Huntsman in the Grand Line
by Z-END99
Summary: Jaune Arc knew that life was strange, spending three years on an island, trained by an assassin, in a new world and no idea where to begin, Jaune forms a crew with the only other person from Remnant, being a criminal. This is the birth of the Remnant Pirates... and their misadventures in the seas. Rewrite of An Arc in the Grand Line/ (Challenge by Necro Z and Multiple x-Overs)
1. The Night of Changed Fates

**Alright… so here's the updated rewrite and sorry for the redo on my end… Like I always say, I DO NOT own anything. RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth while One Piece belongs to Echiro Oda. That being said I also DO NOT own any characters, references or other that belongs to their respective owners.**

…

As the night air surrounded the world and the cool winds dilled the area, a lone statue was the only thing that greeted a young man as he looked onto it with pain in his blue eyes. The young man was in deep thought, contemplating the events that had occurred recently, all only a week ago that many things he had knew in the last few months he had spent at Beacon Academy was turned upside down.

A week ago… the safest place in Vale, Beacon Academy… was overran with the monsters known as the Creatures of Grimm. The young man had fought to protect the innocent people there and had done well… better than he had the last time he fully went to face the monsters. They came in through the tunnels that lead to the city by a criminal known as Roman Torchwick. He himself had never met the man but his friends had and fought to prevent his plans from succeeding.

That was supposed to be the end… Torchwick was defeated… The city was cleansed of the monsters he had lured… but yet despite that all, he didn't feel the joy that other felt from their victory. At first he was happy, his teammates happy that, in Nora's words "Broke some Grimm legs." A bit of heartache was felt once again as he thought about his team-no his former teammate…

Ozpin had informed him of the decision that his parents had made. He knew that they didn't approve of being a huntsman nor did they hope to have him risk his life. But he wanted to be a hero, make a difference… he was a fool perhaps on the means he went about doing it.

…Forged Transcripts…

When he eventually confessed, he thought he was going to be expelled, be arrested… the headmaster just shrugged his shoulders and stated he knew, the deputy one, sighing while calling him many things… "Reckless Fool" would be one of the friendlier ones.

…

 _"Mister Arc, may I ask why you wanted to speak to me?" an older man asked with silver hair and a pair of glasses while the young man sighed, obviously feeling conflicted about something. Behind the older man, stood a woman with blonde hair and green eyes while looking at the fellow blond in curiosity._

 _As far as Glynda Goodwitch had known one Jaune Arc… he never seemed to be what she would ever call confrontational. Even while being bullied by Cardin Winchester, he merely just seemed to take it while acting more passive. The last few weeks being the worst of it all…_

 _"…It's about my transcripts… I don't… I don't think I'm cut out to be here" he said, making everyone in the room look at him in shock, while Glynda was slightly taken back at the fact that a young man would admit that, Ozpin however seemed interested at that. He had seen something change in the young man but he stilled held his judgment until he explained himself._

 _The three behind him however-_

 _"What, what do you mean!" a young woman with orange hair demanded as she suddenly grabbed him by his armor straps and shook him. "You're our leader; there is no jumping ship mister… The queen demands it!" she said as a red haired woman with similar green eyes to her senior huntress stared in disbelief while a raven haired young man, a little older than Jaune, had a similar expression. Was that why he didn't want them to come along?!_

 _"Miss Valkyrie… while I understand the shock, please refrain from giving Mister Arc a concussion until he explains why he believes he is unsuited to be here" Ozpin said, a bit amused before Nora glared at them, relenting before letting go of her leader, but guarding the exit incase he tried to escape her wrath._

 _"…My transcripts… I forged them" Jaune admitted while Pyrrha sighed, Ren and Glynda felt their eyes widen a bit, Glynda having a feeling about them while Ren was slightly shocked while slowly thinking back. Jaune wasn't exactly strong… according to Pyrrha he didn't even have his aura unlocked… or even knew what it was._

 _Nora, however just screamed in shock at the announcement… "What, you were lying… how could you?" she cried dramatically before doing a 180… I mean that would explain a lot… you aren't exactly strong… or skilled… or even that good with a weapon… heck if I didn't know any better I would have thought you were just some kind of idiot playing hero or something…"_

 _Jaune however wilted by each thing his teammate had said, mostly because it was all literally true. If one were to have drawn the scene, a literal raincloud would have hung over his head. What Ozpin said however changed his attitude._

 _"I already knew about the transcripts, Mister Arc" he said bluntly as Jaune looked at him and Glynda in shock while Ren, Pyrrha and especially Nora were gaping at that. "Come now… did you really think I wouldn't know a forged transcript when I see one… I have to say though… yours was pretty convincing… but please remember that we do double check… and get the faculty names right."_

 _Jaune would have blushed if it wasn't such a big thing but that left one question, one that Pyrrha asked._

 _"But if you knew about Jaune's transcripts since the beginning… why wasn't he expelled… or rejected" or arrested or even punished in general. Heck he had to have broken some kind of laws or something._

 _Ozpin remained neutral as Glynda sighed. "Mister Arc… while I thank you for confessing that the transcripts were forged… which we will be talking about in person as a part of your newest detention tomorrow after class, as well as the fact that you were reckless and foolish to even consider such a thing to begin with… I would like to let you know that technically… you haven't done much to warrant much punishment beyond possible expulsion."_

 _"…Huh…?" was his only reply… so forging transcripts… was only worth expulsion… he could kind of see that anyways but… that was it?_

 _"Mister Arc, tell me, what is it that allows one to be accepted into an academy to begin with?" Ozpin asked as Jaune said nothing while Pyrrha spoke up for him._

 _"Typically, one either has to attend a prep school for several years to be accepted… or be strong enough to pass a test by a teacher or a member that would vouch for them" she said as Jaune flinched. Yeah, he wasn't strong and he never even went to a prep school. So those were the reasons he couldn't stay at Beacon-_

 _"Not fully, Miss Nikos… you are forgetting one more condition" Ozpin said as everyone looked at him confused. There was a third condition? "While it's true that you must either go through a prep school or be approved after a test by the faculty… there is another way to be accepted by an academy than what you would think. The reason it is not known or made public is because it would cause problems."_

 _"…What do you mean, Headmaster?" Ren asked as Ozpin decided to explain._

 _"The only other way that a person is personally invited to enroll into Beacon or if the Headmaster himself approves of it" he said as Jaune stayed quiet before he realized what he meant._

 _"You're saying that the only reason I'm here is because you want me to?" he asked unsure as Ozpin smiled before reaching into his desk before pulling out a file under Yang Xiao Long. Everyone was confused on why he brought out a student's file and one that wasn't even on their team or here._

 _"Yang Xiao Long was a huntress in training who performed both the test and graduated from a prep school… but there was a time that she was almost rejected from entry because of her actions a few days prior. While I won't get into the details, just know that there have been both students currently and formerly that have been allowed into Beacon who by most other standards would be expelled or arrested to a similar degree than you would have."_

 _"…So you're saying that… Jaune can stay here then?" Pyrrha asked with hope in her voice while Ozpin still had his smile._

 _"Now, I never said that" he said as all four of them froze, he was still being kicked out? "While it's true that Mister Arc is allowed to stay here… I thought I made it quite clear that potential is something that we can only lead in the right direction and that it depends on the students to improve and seek success. Going by your grades and performance in class… I can honestly say that unless you improve then you will be expelled."_

 _"So… all Jaune needs to do is get better in class?!" Nora asked before Ozpin nodded. As she turned to Jaune and placed her hands on her hips se began to give him a "Pep Talk" to get him in gear. "Alright Mister… there's no more fooling around. We're going to turn your failing butt into one of success. You're going to get better grades, you're going to show them that you aren't Jaune Arc the failure but you are Jaune Arc the passable enough to stay."_

 _"…Um…" was all the blond swordsman could say as Glynda had a small smile on her face, memories of her own team passing by as she was similar to Miss Valkyrie in her youth… to an extent of course._

…

Safe to say, that after that the life-style changed quite a bit. He would be helped by Ren in his studies, actually doing great in the bit of Grimm Studies he was actually given by one Peter Port while Nora would help him in his physical conditioning. Thinking about it would forever haunt him while question how Nora could even go through that and call it a warm up.

She wasn't human… there was no way she was human.

Pyrrha however helped him in his own swordsmanship, he was slowly coming along and his grades did improve enough to stay… but now, it seems like that after the Breach, he wasn't going to get a choice. While it's true that he could stay if he kept his grades up and was allowed to by Ozpin, that didn't mean he couldn't have been withdrawn.

After the Breach… his parents decided to withdraw him, hoping to keep him safe. No matter what he tried to say or how he tried to convince him, they were just as stubborn as he was. "You aren't meant to be a huntsman" or "its safer here" and the ever famous "Just trust us; you will understand when you're older."

He didn't understand… Why didn't his family want him to become a huntsman? Why were they so against it…? His mother was a huntress for Pete's sake, while his father…

Actually he just said he was a traveler and a hero… but when he asked around there was no records of Jacques Arc on anything. Even Ozpin stated that his father was a mystery that he had no knowledge on. He was going to ask.

Sighing, he just looked up at the statue while thinking about his time he had here, how many friends he had made since he first arrived. Team RWBY and his own team, Sun Wukong and his partner Neptune… He even managed to talk to Velvet and became friends with her as well as her own team.

Heck, Cardin was somewhat considered a friend to some degree, not outright bullying him anymore and didn't bully Velvet as well… then again after his "Private Conversation" with one Coco Adel… he could only imagine what she did to make him literally scream and hide from the fashionable leader.

…Meh, he did kind of deserve it though.

He was given one more day… one more day to make it count. He didn't have it in his heart to tell them though. What was he supposed to say? "Oh, thanks for helping me out but I'm leaving and won't be seeing you again" honestly, what was he even supposed to tell them. Why were things so complex?

"You alright, kid?" a voice asked as Jaune immediately looked away from the statue and to the owner of the voice. She seemed somewhat familiar, having blue eyes and what seemed like shoulder-length brown hair. It was a weird combo for genes to mix but according to Yang there was a girl that worked for Torchwick that had pink and brown eyes… living up to her name he supposed.

"Oh… yeah, just fine… just thinking" he said a bit down, the woman seemingly concerned before she smiled slightly.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked as Jaune nodded at that a bit as she extended a hand, one that was covered in a glove. "Marble… a student from Haven" she introduced as Jaune nodded, remembering that Ruby had mentioned a team from Haven only having three people with them. Maybe this was their fourth member.

"Jaune Arc, Short sweet and… sorry, force of habit" he apologized at the end as the woman shrugged uncaringly. "So… what brings you out here?" he asked as she just shrugged.

"I had a lot on my mind so I decided to take a walk… I would always gaze at the stars when my parents were off doing their jobs… my dad said that as long as we see the stars we aren't alone. Seems kind of corny though" she said as Jaune smiled at that a bit.

"Not that bad… I mean my mom always said friends are just strangers you never met yet…" he said as the woman smiled at that.

"Guess we're both a bit dorky then… so, what's been bothering you?" she asked as Jaune just sighed. He didn't want to tell her, or burden her but for some reason… he did.

…

"I'm getting worried; Jaune's been acting weird since he was called into Ozpin's office…" Pyrrha confessed as she sat down on her bed, Ren and Nora both looking at her and slightly agreeing.

"He certainly has been a bit more reserved since he came back… something's clearly bothering him" Ren said as Nora frowned.

"Yeah, he really seems down today. But why, I mean we were accepted into the tournament, we took down some Grimm at that Breach and best of all, we're going to win this thing for sure" Nora said as Ren and Pyrrha still seemed concerned. They knew that he had a lot on his mind but hopefully it wasn't anything bad. "I mean if Cardin's bullying him again then we just break his legs."

"We'll ask him when he gets back, I'm sure it's nothing that bad-"

*Knock-Knock-Knock*

Confused, the three of the members of Team JNPR looked at one another before Nora got up and went to reach the door… only for a fist to break through and unlock it itself. As the others got up and prepared to fight, the door… or what remained of it anyways, opened up to reveal a familiar face.

"Yang?"

"Where's Jaune?" she demanded blankly as her normally calm lavender eyes were crimson red while she scanned the room while everyone wondered just what happened to cause the woman to be angry… and at Jaune at that. Oh dear god what happened?!

"He went for a walk… what's wrong?" Ren asked before she turned and headed out while another woman with black hair frowned before she was about to leave. She was stopped when Nora caught up to her.

"Hold it, what do you guys want with Jaune-Jaune?" Nora asked as Blake stopped, they didn't know either then?

"Why is Yang so mad?" Ren asked as Pyrrha stayed quiet, worried that something happened.

"…According to Cardin… he heard that Jaune was being withdrawn from Beacon" she said as everyone stopped. What? Jaune was being withdrawn? That didn't seem right. And even then how would Cardin know…? Then again, it's true that Jaune seemed down, in fact now that they thought about it the last time they saw him this way was…

Oh… oh shit, that… they needed to find him, now.

"Yang got it out of him, though we still don't know if it's true. Cardin just said he heard Professor Port apologize and wish him luck. That still didn't keep Ruby from worrying…" Blake said as they frowned. So it was either Cardin was causing rumors or Jaune was… no, it was just rumors that Cardin was spreading… Either way thought, a sad or worrying Ruby lead to a concerned and somewhat upset Yang Xiao Long…

And an upset Yang was a either depressed and lost in thought… or very punch happy. Looking at the remains of their door, it was clearly the second one and one that was currently heading and looking for their leader. Cursing for forgetting their scrolls in their room, Pyrrha ran back in order to call him and get answers.

"Come on, come on…" she muttered as she ran after her teammates after picking up the phone and mentally cursed when she realized he might have it turned off.

…

Ozpin sighed, contemplating the events that had occurred as he sat at his desk, his fingers folded while at the same time, looking out the window and being greeted by the appearance of the shattered moon. This entire week was one big fiasco for him. Not only did the Breach, lead by Roman Torchwick cause a panic but the council just had to be involved.

Now things were more concerning. If Torchwick and the White Fang had a possible connection to "her" then that would mean that she was beginning to move once again. It was bad enough that Amber had been attacked and he had no doubt that after what Miss Rose had discovered during the dance that someone tried to access the network of the CCT.

To make matters worse, Ironwood was so concerned about the protection of the people he was bringing in another ship or two to help them. Ships that would potentially have people question what they were being protected by. Then again, he wasn't the only one with people or men. He slipped by a message to a certain crow and decided to see how this all played out.

*Bzz-Bzz-Bzz*

Perhaps that was him now, reaching for the scroll, he was greeted with a form he had not expected, a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, showing worry on her face as Ozpin seemed taken back slightly.

"Mrs. Arc?" he asked slightly, he had already talked to her yesterday when she informed him of their choice to withdraw their son.

"Ozpin… we just heard about what happened, is Jaune alright?" she asked while Ozpin blinked. Was Jaune alright, they had discussed this before.

"As we already talked about… you wish to withdraw your son from Beacon… we discussed that you would be picking him up tomorrow" he reminded kindly but was rewarded with confusion.

"…What? We… we never talked… What do you mean withdrawn?" she asked as Ozpin now seemed confused by that. He had talked to her about this earlier.

"Are you sure?" Ozpin asked as he noticed something outside his window and immediately got serious. "I'll call you back" he said before hanging up and running down there in a hurry.

Meanwhile, Jaune was shocked to see Ruby and Weiss running up to him, Ruby, reaching him first while using her semblance, and nearly knocking him over in the process. "Jaune… is it… is it true?" she cried out as Jaune was confused and blushed when he realized that she was on top of him.

"Ruby?" he muttered out before a white haired woman frowned.

"Ruby, get off of him…" Weiss ordered as Ruby was confused before getting up, him following suite before he was confronted with the Schnee Heiress, who demanded answers from him. "And you… we heard from Winchester some stupid rumors about you being withdrawn. Yang's looking for you, Ruby was worried and you practically made a mess of our night" she complained.

Before Jaune could reply, a new voice interrupted him. "There you are!" yang shouted as she ran up to him and snatched him by the straps of his armor. "Tell me the truth Arc, are you leaving or is this one of Cardin's bullying attempts?" she demanded while Blake and the others of his team ran up to him, Ruby trying to get her sister to let him go.

"Jaune… what's going on…?" Pyrrha asked.

"What do they mean by being withdrawn?" Ren followed up while Jaune felt guilty by this point.

"Jaune?" Ruby muttered as he still didn't say anything. Blake, Ren and Weiss frowned at that… that spoke enough for him, he wouldn't be saying nothing if it wasn't true.

Sighing, he just looked down. "I… don't want to leave" he said as everyone remained quiet while he continued. "I want to stay here… and be a huntsman… to be with you guys …but my parents… Ozpin told me that they want to withdraw me… after the Breach… he said they thought Beacon wasn't safe."

"…Jaune…" Pyrrha said as she noticed him trying to hold in some tears.

"…I really wish I could… but my parents are stubborn. They ever approved of me being a huntsman since the beginning… and now… now they have a reason to take me out-"

"Bullshit!" Yang shouted and caused the others to look at her. "You deserve to be here… Yeah you aren't the best huntsman or even that good at it… but you should be here with us." She finished as Nora nodded.

"Yeah, you're out leader and we aren't giving you up that easy" the orange haired girl declared, ready to fight for her "Fearless Leader." Ren merely nodded while Blake and Weiss smiled sadly, not having the best relationship with him but at the very least caring about him and his choice to stay here.

And not because a certain white-themed student cared… she just didn't want Ruby to mope around and be sad and have to put up with her missing the blond dunce… or anyone for that matter.

Pyrrha however said nothing, hands balled into fists before she smiled. "I'm sure that if you explain the situation… they would understand" she said while Jaune nodded. It was doubtful for sure, his parents being who they were and all.

"It's not like it's truly good-bye either…" Marble said as Jaune and everyone else looked at her, either forgetting or not caring or knowing if she was there. "You'll see each other again… and you can still stay in contact… I'm sure."

"…Um… who the heck are you?" came Yang's very blunt question as Jaune had forgotten Marble was even there. Before he was forced to probably explain, she introduced herself.

"Marble… a student from Haven" she said as Ruby smiled, she recalled another student from Haven… Cinder, was waiting for their fourth member. Before they could properly greet her, she continued. "Look, I'm not very good at this sort of thing… but my parents were always here and there… but when they were around they always told me to never say goodbye… never really understood that before. But if you remember each other… and you keep that memory… then even if you aren't together at the moment… he won't be gone."

"…That sounds familiar…" Nora stated as Marble shrugged.

"Either way… I hope things go good for you out there… take care of yourself and…" she hesitated before smiling softly. "I'm sorry." She said, her left-handed glove now off and her feeling bad, knowing what she was going to do would cause a lot of problems… and change many things…

Sorry? Sorry for what…?

"It's not your fault… I mean it's not like you're the one taking me away-" Jaune said before he felt her palm touch his side and suddenly felt nautilus, air-born… and tired. Meanwhile, Marble said nothing as she stood before the seven others, alone. Jaune… or where he last stood… no longer in their sights… in Beacon… or possibly in Remnant.

She neither looked at the horrified faces of the seven students nor did she see the shocked expression of the headmaster that looked on from his office before running down to confront her. She just left the same way she made the blond huntsman leave. She didn't care about the cries from the seven students… she just continued her job.

And she wasn't done yet. Next was a young woman… who she knew would not go quietly.

…

 **And here we go… now the rewrite is going to basically follow the same path as the older one… the difference is that I'm going to be adding things I SHOULD have been adding… so while not spoiling it, I hope the rewrite turns out better than the first one. However, unlike the first one, I'm going to be making a few changes here and there…**

 **Next is that I'm going to be focusing more on Jaune and his adventure over what happens in the RWBY verse since that tended to be more over the place and a bit confusing…**

 **And finally should I leave the older story up or just delete it? Any thoughts, criticism and advice are welcomed and thanks for reading.**


	2. An Arc in the South Blue

**And here we have the next Chapter… I don't own RWBY or One Piece and they belong to their respective owners… moving on.**

…

Three days had passed since Jaune Arc had disappeared and safe to say that things had taken a turn for the worst. As Ozpin sat down at his desk, he consulted the council of his closest allies currently gathered and safe to say he wasn't exactly excited to say that the Vale Council had to be notified.

As he closed his eyes, the other three occupants in the room were feeling the same. Glynda Goodwitch, while not really having the ideal teacher-student relationship with the young knight was certainly not wishing any actual harm towards him. She would even admit that despite his need to improve… his very strong need to improve at that, she could at least now see why Ozpin wanted him to attend Beacon. While he may not have been that great of a huntsman in terms of skill, he at least had the right mindset.

Having dropped a mission because of an incident, while unprofessional was a trait some huntsman had to have. Sometimes there were choices a leader had to make and while it was frowned upon to abandon a mission when assigned, sometimes huntsmen had to do so for the greater good…

Next to her stood a man that she had a love/hate relationship with. James Ironwood was deep in thought, not only was Roman Torchwick capable of breaking into Beacon with the White Fang's aid but a week later a student was kidnapped right on Beacon Grounds. Safe to say that after that the students were each given a curfew as well as a temporary "Buddy System" until they found more answers on this so called "Marble of Haven…"

And then there was what happened just last night… somehow Roman Torchwick escaped custody and no one even knew how. Not to mention that Leonardo still hasn't called back after he and Ozpin asked for any information… He seemed nervous though, but he informed them that he would look into it and if that meant bringing his students back… he would.

Besides the Atlas General was another man that was currently sipping from a flask, he had red eyes and was clearly just trying to make heads or tails of the whole thing. Just who in their right mind would want to kidnap the kid? According to his nieces, having been some of the closest friends with him, he was a person who was considered weak. Nothing all that special…

And now there was the fact that the Arcs were heading over to Beacon. He might not have known about them but he did know three things… The first was that Isabelle Arc was a huntress at one point. Though she knew nothing about Salem, she was skilled enough to not use her semblance once and still be able to fight a few Grimm… granted she retired immediately after.

The second thing he knew was that there was nothing known about the kid's father… He looked everywhere, the records in the Kingdoms, the local bars and questionable places for information… Heck, he even went into a library or two. He found nothing, no birth certificates… no backgrounds… all they knew was that Jacques Arc was from outside the Kingdoms and met and married Isabelle.

The final thing was what truly caught their attention however… apparently his sister tried to raid the village they lived in and oh boy did she come to regret it. According to her, she was given a choice… to either leave or never return or to be escorted out. Safe to say that she choice option 3: To fight and take them down… And just like that half her tribe was killed, the other half on deaths door and according to Raven, she was shown mercy.

…All against one person… someone, who had the same abilities as the Warrior King of Vale…

After learning that bit of information it became a race to find anything about the man… a man who was on his way here and probably going to be pissed.

"…Ozpin… the Arcs are here to see you" a secretary said as Ozpin just sighed.

"Very well, send them in" he said as he prepared for the "Talk" he had unfortunately given time and time again. Looking at his desk stood the weapon that Jaune had brought with him. Crocea Mors…

It didn't take long before the elevators opened up and revealed the two parents of the young knight. Isabelle was clearly enraged as her blue eyes held fury and worry that only a mother could honestly produce. Meanwhile, Jacques remained calm, though it wasn't hard to also sense a bit of concern in his gaze.

"Isabelle-"

"Ozpin, where is my son" she said quietly enough and ignoring his greeting all together. Ozpin said nothing while Glynda prepared to speak up before she continued. "And don't beat around the bush… I want to know just what happened after this whole Breach Incident my son was caught up in."

"…Look, I know what it's like to-"

"You know what it's like…? You know what it's like to lose your only child? That is bullshit Mr. Branwen and we both know it… So unless something actually came out of that one-night stand with Summer I don't want to hear it from you." That made Qrow look away… yeah, she was right about that.

He didn't know what it was like to lose a child…

"Mrs. Arc… I know that Jaune enrolled against your wishes but-"

"He enrolled because of you. You knew he wasn't trained or wasn't fully ready to tackle the world… I told you, my husband told you-"

He only mentioned it once and threatened to beat the hell out of him if Jaune died… oh shit.

"And as far as we know, he could be who-knows-where being held hostage or being corrupted… or even worse!"

"Look, I don't know what's going on between you and Ozpin about this… young man" James said, not wanting to offend the grieving mother anymore that she possibly was. "All I can do is offer my condolences and try my best to find a trail… if we can." He was glared at by both Isabelle and Glynda for that last part before Jacques spoke up, surprising everyone.

"Our son is alive, General Ironwood" he stated bluntly as everyone looked at him before he turned to his wife who, while still glaring, lessened her rightfully furious expression and allowed her husband to continue. "We just need a name, a lead and a few answers."

"…Not to sound rude or anything… but how exactly do you know that Mister Arc is still alive… it's been three days since he was kidnapped and we haven't even found a trace of him" Glynda said as Jacques frowned at that. He really didn't like revealing his secrets to others but in a time like this, he relented. If this was a means to help him find his son… then so be it.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a piece of paper and explained. "Before Jaune left… I used my semblance to create what I call a vivre card" he said as the piece of paper was crinkled while everyone but his wife seemed confused.

"A… what…?" Qrow asked bluntly as Glynda turned to Ozpin while he shrugged his shoulders, having just heard of it himself. That being said he did say it was a semblance that created the small piece of paper, it seemed ordinary by all means…

But he knew from personal experience that looks were quite often deceiving.

"…*Sigh* a virve card is something that connects to one's life energy… think of it as a life bar or something…" he said as his wife chose to explain.

"What my husband means is that it allows us to see how the person it's attached to is doing, is he healthy or near-death… as well as can act as a compass to point to where he is." That being said, there were several different reactions from the four professional huntsman and huntress in the room. From Ironwood's clear disbelief and to Glynda's uncertainty, Qrow's curiosity and Ozpin's interest… eventually, Qrow was the one who broke the silence.

"…Alright, just to make sure I heard you… that little piece of scrap paper… is supposed to be some magical life map that is just supposed to lead us to the kid…" he said bluntly as he looked back at them, thinking this was a joke. Their looks said enough before he just sighed. "Well… that's new… you hear about this, Oz?"

"…Can't say I can… but then again it was supposedly made by a semblance… and a semblance is a concept that could evolve and develop into many things… though I do have a question. What is your semblance, Mr. Arc?" Ozpin asked as Jacques said nothing before his wife responded with a retort.

"You have your secrets and we have ours… all we want to know is what happened to our son" she said as Ozpin just nodded. He could ask another time while things weren't so hectic and a life was potentially on the line. If what they were saying was indeed true then Mister Arc was still alive. But that lead to another question.

"Still… from what it sounds like you should be able to find your son with that… virve card was it?" Ironwood stated a bit confused, wondering if Atlas could potentially replicate such a thing… but that didn't mean he was going to be very friendly with a man he had no information on. He didn't even know he had a semblance until now.

"While it's true that we could hopefully locate Jaune with this… this is not something that I usually see… A virve card is usually straight and unwrinkled… and as you can see"

"It's like you left it in the wash… going to just assume that's not exactly a good thing then" Qrow said as Isabelle finally lost her patience.

"We don't even know what this means… we never wanted him to be a huntsman in the first place!" she shouted as she looked down, clearly the effects finally showing as she glared at the huntsman she knew well from her time in Beacon. And she wasn't afraid to call them out on what they knew. "You told me… after my team died by one of Salem's forces just what's out there… I saw my friends die that day Ozpin. And now my only son might be another victim to this damn bitch that's going around and-and…"

She just broke down as Jacques went to comfort his wife with clear strain and sadness on his face while Ozpin just sighed. Ironwood was about to say something before Glynda stopped him with a stern glare, one the Qrow mouthed out.

"Another time" he wordlessly said while Ironwood said nothing but nodded. Now was not the time to make hasty actions… nor was it the time to accuse or demand answers to a grieving couple over their missing son.

"…I'm sorry… I truly am. Truth is that even we don't have much except a name and what Team RWBY and the former Team JNPR had heard when they confronted her…"

"RWBY… JNPR… those were Jaune's friends… am I right" Jacques said tenderly as he still held onto his wife while Qrow just frowned. He was used to bad luck and hearing just how hard his nieces took it that their friend just vanished into thin air without even a trace except a faunus that claimed she came from Haven…

He was starting to feel too sober for this shit…

…

The first thing Jaune noticed was the fact he was in a bit of pain. He didn't know what happened but his head was pounding and he just wanted to sleep. It wasn't until he noticed a seagull pecking at him, thinking it found some food that he finally got up with an annoyed grunt. Jeez… annoying seagulls… wait seagulls?

There weren't any seagulls around Beacon… come to think about it… what happened? Looking around, he could only feel nervousness and anxiety as he realized that he was actually on some sort of beach, the waves or the mid-day tide and the seagulls that flew freely into the air were the only sounds other than himself.

"What the, where the heck am I?" he started off in a mutter of disbelief. It soon turned into outright panic as he tried to come to terms. "Pyrrha, Ren, Nora?" he called out as he turned around and saw the jungle green and tried to think of how this happened. Alright, think…

He… remembered talking to Ozpin… him being withdrawn… that one girl marble and his friends before she apologized and… wait, was she behind this? Wait, who even was she… and why the hell didn't he remember anything else after that… It didn't matter right now thought. He needed to get in contact with someone.

Pulling his scroll, he tried to reach someone… Pyrrha, Ruby, Glynda Goodwitch? Anyone would have to do… he just needed to know what happened and where he was. Weiss was smart so she could probably have traced the call, right. He froze however when there was nothing even on the screen. No contacts or even any indication that something was wrong with it.

"No… no-no-no-no-no" he said as he finally gave up and three the apparently useless machine into the sand out of frustration. Great…just great… Here he was, the great Jaune Arc… without his weapon, with a pointless scroll with no way to reach anyone… all while stranded on an island.

Now what was he supposed to do…?

As he sat down, or rather fell on his own butt, he tried to think of how he got into this mess, how was he going to get out… However, soon enough he heard what seemed to be some kind of animal, looking back, he froze when he saw just what kind of animal it was. A large boar tore through the jungle with a savage roar as it locked its black eyes on the huntsman's form. Jaune could only get back up and try to step away… it wasn't a Boarbatusk Grimm but it was just as ruthless.

Not just because it was as big as one of those Atlas robots that Team RWBY had fought Torchwick piloting but the sensation of fear running through him only said one thing…

…Run…

And as soon as he did, the boar accepted his challenge and tried to mow him over with wild rage as Jaune just dove to the side at the last minute. Feeling the presence of the wild beast run past him, he was honestly terrified of what he was facing. He was unarmed, he was outmatched… he was…

He was going to die.

'This is bad… very bad…' he thought as the beast turned to him after destroying a boulder with ease while Jaune just backed up from the beat before the beast rushed at him again. All Jaune could do however was keep trying to avoid being killed and try to think of a plan… he couldn't think of anything and the beast was still fully ready to kill him…

This was it… this was how he was going to die… not as some hero or have a fulfilled life… he wasn't going to even die with his friends finding out about it. That was what hurt the most. He was going to die alone… alone to some monster Pig-Thing that he never even saw. Everything that they did for them… his friends… his family… his teachers…

 _"_ _It doesn't matter who you were before…"_

 _"_ _You saw me as just another person… that's what I liked about you"_

 _"_ _Don't be afraid to ask for help… alright, Jaune"_

 _"_ _Come on, Fearless Leader… we're getting pancakes"_

…Damn it…

 _"_ _You dolt… just focus on yourself and get your act together… alright"_

 _"_ _Don't worry Lady-Killer… we won't beat you too badly in the tournament"_

 _"…_ _Nora told us what happened… thanks for coming back"_

…Damn it…

 _"_ _You'll be back and visit… right Jaune?"_

 _"_ _Be careful out there… and don't do anything too reckless"_

 _"_ _If you get hurt… or if it's too much for you… we'll still be here for you, you know that right"_

 _"_ _Our baby brother… growing up so fast and already going off on an adventure… so, are you planning to get a girlfriend?"_

…No…

 _"_ _Mister Arc… while you have improved quite a bit in class… please pay better attention, history is still a very important thing for any huntsman to learn from"_

 _"_ _It seems you have gained a bit of confidence… alright then, let's see just how far you came!"_

 _"_ _Mister Arc, while I appreciate the extra effort… please remember not to keep pushing yourself and falling for the enemy's ploy"_

 _"_ _If you truly want to know why I made you the leader… it is very simple"_

I… refuse… I refuse to die here

 _"_ _Just be careful out there… and remember…if you have trouble making friends then just remember that strangers are just friends you never met before…"_

 _"_ _I can't say I have much experience… but if you do meet a girl, remember to have confidence, have confidence and you can do amazing things… just don't tell your mother…"_

…

"I refuse to die here!" Jaune screamed out before the beast was suddenly sliced in half as Jaune froze and stared at the beast's remains before he slowly looked towards the source of the attacker and saw the last thing he expected.

"…You alright brat?" a man's voice called out to him as he wore a basic white shirt and opened black coat with matching pants. What made him curious enough was that he had a sword held out towards the beast… did he… did he kill it with one swing of his sword? "Hey… I'm talking to you kid, you deaf or something?"

"No… I mean… uh… Who are you, again?" he fumbled as the man smirked. His appearance made Jaune on edge before he sheathed his blade and headed over to him.

"The name's Miles… tell me kid, what's a punk like you doing here on Dusk Island? This place is known for monstrous wildlife… people consider this something of South Blue's worst place to visit" he joked a bit as Jaune was confused.

South Blue…? Dusk Island…?

He never heard of them. Before he could say anything, Miles spoke again. "Still, have to say I'm a bit surprised you managed to get here, Old Scars never really liked others in his seas" Miles said as Jaune was confused even further.

"W-who's Old Scars?" he asked as the man seemed confused… he never met Old Scars before… well no wonder he made it here then. Picking up the severed head of the large boar, he merely tossed it over into the sea like it was nothing. As Jaune seemed just outright baffled by everything going on, he soon looked on in horror as what seemed like a large sea-dragon rose up from the waters and enjoyed its meal while Jaune just gapped with tears in his eyes.

A giant sea monster… just where the hell was he? That wasn't a Creature of Grimm unless there was Grimm that looked an actual green sea-snake.

"…Just going to assume that this is your first time seeing a sea-king…" Miles stated as Jaune remained quite… well best to let him explain why he was here. "Come on… might as well let you stay at my place for now… unless you want to be left here in the wilderness…"

Jaune just kept quiet, trying to process just what happened while following the older swordsman.

…

Cinder Fall was many things, one of which was a patient woman. She held plans that she had carefully planned out and when something went wrong she was the one to usually modify her plans and still find ways to succeed. So safe to say when someone from Team JNPR… or rather it was Team PRN, came out and demanded "Where their friend was" she was caught off guard.

After learning that one of the students was taken and claimed to be a member from Haven, she was unsure what to even say, thankfully they came to the conclusion that she most likely lied. That didn't stop Ozpin and Ironwood from demanding background checks for the students… and more so that they were now forced to keep themselves under low profile.

To make matters worse, Torchwick had escaped somehow and she hadn't even heard from his little psychopathic niece that she was planning to use for their fourth member. Conclusions of him possibly betraying her were on her mind but people like Torchwick knew better.

He was a man who craved survival… and she doubt that he would risk her own wrath… no, something happened and she now had a name…

Marble… a "Student from Haven" as she called herself… and more so a faunus. She was going to ask Adam about her next time she had the chance.

Well for now, they needed to wait for this to play down before they could move and with her sending a message to Leonardo about the incident… safe to say that their backgrounds would be proof enough for them to avoid suspicion… if that fool values his life anyways…

But one thing did peak her curiosity… Jaune Arc was known as the weakest student of his year so why would anyone want to do anything involving someone like him? What secrets did he have and for that matter, just who was this person that made him disappear out of thin air?

She would have to look into those later, but first she had something else to deal with.

"So, what's the plan?" Emerald, a young woman with green hair asked as she was looking at her leader in curiosity while her "Partner" just crossed his arms and seemed slightly bored.

"For now, we wait until things cool down… acting rashly will just cause more issues" she said as her hazel eyes glowed with power, thinking about what she had in store for Beacon. Perhaps this was truly a blessing. With Atlas and the others preoccupied with this and the matter being more kept under wraps until they had an answer… this could very well be another way to tear the world apart.

…

 **And finished… Alright so there was the second chapter and I'm taking it a bit slower now instead of rushing into it like I did before… That being said, the Virve Card thing wasn't made from a semblance but Ozpin doesn't need to know that…**

 **Thoughts, comments and criticism are all welcomed.**


	3. A Premonition of Piracy

**Alright, so here's the next chapter. I DO NOT own RWBY, One Piece or anything in this story**

…

"…Man, time sure flies…" a voice called out as a man laid down on the beach while trying to relax. As he did so, he also looked up at the clear sky, his old clothes barely fitting him as he scrapped his old armor and chose to wear just his normal attire. His hoodie, branded with a blue bunny design was torn in some placed as his blue jeans had some patches in them. He really needed to buy new clothes when he had the chance to… well it didn't mate all that much in the end...

Tomorrow was the day he left Dusk Island and headed out into the seas. It's been around three years or so since Jaune first arrived and was taken in by the old man known as Mezz D. Miles. Still, he never expected this to be his case…

…A new world…

That was his only real explanation as to where he was right now because how else would someone even try to explain this? Marines, pirates… yeah that seemed normal enough… but then it just got weird.

The den-den mushi, the devil fruits, seastone, and heck even the moon was different. He knew the moon for being destroyed… shattered and ominous, not the full view and completed one he looked at for several times a night. Nearly had a heart attack when he first saw it complete.

As the blond swordsman recalled his torture… err he meant, training under the older marine, Jaune could honestly say that he certainly grew from before. He had unlocked his semblance… improved his swordsmanship… he even trained in something called Rokushiki

While he preferred his sword… he would admit that the Rokushiki was useful. Now he felt something he never felt in Beacon. He felt powerful, like he could make a difference instead of just hiding behind his teammates while they did all the fighting…

His teammates… his friends…

Ren, Nora and Pyrrha… it was hard to imagine but something he had to accept. While he would miss them, while he was thankful for everything they've done for him… he knew that he would never see them again. And even if he did see them again, if he did return to Remnant, did return to Beacon…

Then what?

Three years had passed since he arrived here, and three years also must have passed for them as well. They were probably nearing graduation by now… they were already in the middle of their first year before he arrived on Dusk Island so who knew how much longer they would even be at Beacon.

Did they still remember him, did they get a replacement? And even if all that did happen, if he was remembered, if he made it back, if he saw them again… how long would it be until he found Remnant… if he found it at all.

It was a sad thing to think about and one that Miles made him eventually accept. In the three years he had been training, thoughts ran through his head… What was he going to do, what was his plan in life… just what was it that he now. He had no family or friends around him unless you counted Miles… just what was the plan?

"Go out to sea" he recalled Miles saying to him as Jaune just sighed. Go out to sea… that was the only thing he could do because he refused to remain here and just waste his life away.

Miles was right, life really sucks sometimes… As he moaned out and got up, dusting himself off of the sand that clung onto him, he turned around he soon found himself in a familiar situation. The loud roars of another giant boar made itself known as Jaune however sighed when it prepared to rampage and charge him, like one had three years ago.

"Alright, let's just get this over with…" he muttered as he reached down for a sword that laid beside him, it's silver blade shining in the light as the beast rushed while Jaune just kept calm. Honestly, three years ago… heck even two and a half years ago… he would have ran away from the beast before him. Instead, all he did was disappear in a whooshing wind.

Appearing beside the beast, Jaune just swung his blade, creating a yellow wave of energy that mercilessly sliced through the giant boar as the swordsman smiled a bit, somewhat proud of both his kill and his progress made. Did that mean he was going to go mad with power… no, he was still at the core Jaune Arc.

He knew from firsthand experience that there were stronger people than him in the world. Even with as much training as he got, Miles was still technically stronger than him. Adding the stories he heard about the Shichibukai, the Admirals, the Yonko… oh dear god the Yonko alone could probably take over a kingdom…

Whitebeard was said to be the strongest of them from what he was told… he didn't like the idea of having to fight the man who could completely destroy islands with his own devil fruit. His thoughts were soon interrupted when he noticed Miles heading over to him with a smirk.

"Heh… hard to think that a little while ago you ran away from one of those things… I think you're ready to give Old Scars a run for his money now, Jaune." Jaune himself, smiled at his teacher's words, having owing a lot to the former marine before he headed he looked out to the sea and smiled. "So, have you decided?"

"…Not yet… I mean I did decide that tomorrow I'm heading out to sea but what I do there is something I haven't thought about well enough…" he said as Miles gave him a deadpanned glance.

"…You, who was on this island for three years and you still don't have a plan? Oh dear god did I train a dunce of an apprentice" Miles said over-dramatically as Jaune just rolled his eyes.

"Smart-ass…"

"That's Mr. Smart-ass, kid… when you get my age and may the world forbid you have a student is when you can become my level" he said with pride as Jaune just smirked.

"You mean an alcoholic nut that gains pleasure from tormenting others as training?" he asked with a teasing tone as Miles just nodded.

"Yup, which reminds me… when was the last time we spared?" he asked as Jaune put on a thinking expression and clearly gave it some thought as he suddenly frowned.

"The last time my ribs were cracked and I couldn't move my right arm…" he said as Miles nodded, that sounded about right.

"So… ready to lose feeling in your other arm, kid?" Miles asked as Jaune smirked.

"Whenever you're ready to limp back into that little cabin of yours" he said as the two both looked at each other and laughed.

"Kid, I'm honestly going to miss you when you leave… but word of warning, knowing you and the shitty luck you had… you're more or less going to wind up as a pirate… I already told you about the marines and the World Government" Miles said as Jaune's happiness quickly faded as he had known about the "Other Side" of the World Government. Yeah sure the Marines, while corrupt at times, at least did have some kind of moral composure…

He heard things such as Garp the Fist and Sengoku the Buuda but he also heard stories of people like Akainu and worst yet… the so called Goresei. That wasn't even getting into the World Nobles he heard about. If there were any time Jaune would purposely feed people to the Grimm, the Nobles would be that time…

Murder,

Slavery…

Rape…

He slowly calmed down as he didn't want to think of the bastards on top and chose to focus on his own life's goals.

…Mainly…

"Don't you think it's a bit hypocritical for a "Marine" to promote "Piracy?" he asked as Miles just shrugged.

"Jaune, let me tell you something, I left the marines for reasons, and I came to the worst island possibly in the South Blue, for. Reasons… So with all that I told you about my life as a CP0 agent and the other shit I got involved with, what the hell makes you think I give a shit of what you become… as long as you aren't some kind of stereotypical pirate or something like those corrupted pigs up top… then I don't really care what you get yourself into."

The younger swordsman just shrugged, nice to know where he fit in his teacher's amount of "Things I honestly give a shit about" and now that he thought about it… he really got vulgar spending three years with the older man. He knew if his parents heard him talk like this he'd be dead… Rokushiki or not…

"So… since tomorrow you're heading out… while still having no idea what to do at that" he added while Jaune frowned, "Let's just see what you got?" Miles challenged as he rested a hand on his katana while Jaune held his blade and smirked.

"I'm not going to hold back… Teacher" Jaune said before Mezz D. Miles smirked. That was good, because neither was he. Soon, both disappeared in a fast-pace movement before soon reappearing with the sounds of blades meeting, Jaune having his sword up and blocking the Katana as the sand around them swirled and they both separated.

"First… Soru" Miles said as Jaune nodded his head in agreement, both repeating the process of clashing blades several times, the sands being swept across the area as to others, they seemed like they would both clash in one area, a second later disappearing before another second they would appear somewhere else.

The sounds of battle raged on as did the winds as Miles smirked and enjoyed the "Light Sparring" with his apprentice.

…

 _"_ _Alright Jaune, I think it's time to show you how to use the Rokushiki's first principle of Soru… it's not that complex" Miles said as Jaune stood before him, looking curious on what the older swordsman was saying._

 _"_ _What first principle… isn't it just moving super fast?" he asked out loud as Miles just smiled. It wasn't a good thing, which the blond swordsman found out when he was first used as bait for the war hogs… at first he thought he meant warthogs…_

 _…_ _Miles just laughed and threw him into the pit…_

 _The only good thing that came from that was he discovered his semblance… which he decided to called "Amplify" As far he could know, his semblance could at random, boost certain strengths of his… such as his aura. And using that he could run faster, jump higher, heal faster and take more hits…_

 _He wasn't exactly happy to know that that Tekkai move was going to be his teacher's "Favorite" move to beat into him._

 _"_ _Now then, since the basic Rokushiki technique of Soru requires one to essentially kick the ground around ten times in a second… and that we need to first build up your leg strength in order for you to do that… I have decided, with my great and inspirational training-"_

 _"…_ _You mean you're cruel and unusual punishments…" Jaune pointed out which was either ignored or made it worse for him in the end…_

 _"_ _That I have decided to work on your cardio… are you ready for a morning jog?" he asked with a smile as Jaune just sighed, giving into what he knew was going to be absolute hell for him before he was given a steak and had a string of what seemed like tied up meat wrapped in a net that was attached to him like a vest._

 _"…_ _um, what's this for-" he tried to ask before he was punted into the forest and landed on his face with a loud oomph. Slowly getting up, he tried to regain his balance and glare at the older man before he sensed something wrong… behind him was a pair of glowing eyes and Jaune instantly knew what Miles meant by "Cardio."_

 _Channeling his semblance, he ran as fast as he could before three wolves chased after him over the meat both attached to his body and his bones. Meanwhile, Miles just smirked, enjoying the simpler things in life…_

…

As the two broke apart once more, Miles laughed as Jaune smirked, having kept up with him and countered his teacher's Soru with one of his own. "Next… is Gepo" Miles said as he jumped up into the air and Jaune followed slowly… safe to say that Gepo was not his best ability but soon he reached his teacher and smirked…

…

 _"_ _Alright, now that you have Soru down… the next one will be easier" Miles said as Jaune glared at the man, he was chased by wolves constantly for a full four months straight just to get the basics of Soru down so just what kind of bullshit was he going to get involved in this time…? "Now… instead of kicking the ground ten times… I need you to kick the ground ten times… while jumping…"_

 _"_ _I can already do that-"_

 _"_ _For three minutes straight… and then we can get into the actually basic training" he said as Jaune said nothing…_

 _He needed to do what again?_

…

As they both landed, Jaune smiled and Miles cracked his knuckles… the easy stuff was over… now that they worked on speed and agility… it was time for dodging and defending. "Now… Dodge!" Miles shouted as Jaune narrowed his eyes and let his body loosen up and side-step a punch aimed for his head.

…

 _Next I'm going to teach you a very important skill… one that is very important to use Kami-E… relaxing, concentration… find your happy place and then effortlessly dodge." Jaune said nothing as he just nodded, unsure._

 _"_ _Alright… just give me a minute… I just need a moment to prepare and-"_

 _"_ _Training begins now!" Miles shouted before backhanding Jaune into the ground before looking at him in no clear emotion other than indifference. "…You weren't ready…" he said as Jaune just moaned and got back up._

…

As Jaune continued to avoid the slower punches and strikes from his teacher, he then used a technique that forced Jaune to block, a two handed palm strike the pushed him back into the sand. Skidding across the beach, Jaune still just smirked as he remembered which one they were on now.

'Tekkai… great' he thought as he kept his defense up and braced himself for a possible beating.

…

 _"_ _Oh Jaune~" Miles sung out as Jaune froze in absolute horror, looking at the large beaming smile of the drunken old man. "I think it's time we work on your Tekkai next… what you say for a little fisticuffs with your favorite teacher?" he said while wearing some kind of boxing cloves made of animal hide and bone. Jaune, already knowing what Tekkai was and more so horrified at just how much power the man had behind him… chose the "smart" thing._

 _He ran using Soru as Miles just smirked. So a little jog before they got into their match… alright, he was a little buzzed and a little warm up would help him aim better and punch stronger. Giving chase to the blond swordsman, his student's cries were heard several minutes later… followed by what sounded like the sound of broken bones…_

…

As Jaune endured the last punch, albeit with a pained expression, he smirked as the man crossed his arms and nodded his head. "Seems like you can take a punch… I'm surprised you didn't use your Haki" Miles said as Jaune frowned.

"Yeah… but if I did you would have just used yours and kicked my ass" he said bluntly as Miles said nothing to neither confirm nor deny such a thing. He was right, heck the kid… maybe around three weeks of using his semblance soon discovered his abilities to perform the basics of Haki… granted a much weaker variation… but that just made training him the more fun for the old man.

Because he got to beat him with a club… err, awaken his Kenbunshoku Haki with his excellent training method of beating him with a club… Alright, he might have just wanted to use the club. Point is that for reasons beyond the old man's rational explanation, Jaune was a skilled user in basic Haki Principle…

He was just too unconfident and unsure of himself to fully use it. Thankfully, his pep talks, motivational speeches and fierce drive to help him succeed broke him out of his shell like breaking it with a club, punching the shit out of it and making it so every time he would doubt himself he would be motivated to become even better…

…If he wanted to survive to the next morning that was…

Jaune just flinched at the thoughts of his "Haki" training and shivered. Oh god that was worse than anything Nora and Yang could have done to him. He still had nightmares about the damn "Motivation Stick" as the drunken old man called it… not to mention how he "Cured" him of his motion sickness…

He tried to repress that memory so very badly… but he just couldn't…

Knowing what was next, Jaune sighed and placed his sword in his sheath before rushing up to Miles, fingers extended. "Shigan: Yari" he called out as he shoved his left hand, fingers and thumb extended at the older man, who just flicked it and moved it to the side, his attack, deflected, only made him more determined.

…

 _"_ _Shigan… the ability to pierce stone, flesh and everything else with only a finger… that is what you will be focusing on today… hence why I brought this war hog corpse for you to practice on" Miles said as Jaune looked at the skeleton and was, curious, Jaune just shrugged it off after healing from his Tekkai training and praising the gift of amplified healing from his semblance._

 _As he immediately gathered some aura into his finger, he was however stopped when Miles held his hand up. "Before you try to break your finger… let me give you these" he said as he slowly tied two stones to his index finger and smirked. "I want you to use Shigan one hundred times before you start on the bones… and every time you curve off or let the pebbles weigh you down, you have to restart it."_

 _"…_ _What…?"_

 _"_ _You have five hours…good luck" he said as Jaune just looked at him and sighed before proceeding to use the Shigan._

 _"_ _And one-"_

 _*Smack*_

 _"_ _Start over… that was pathetic for a first attempt" Miles said as he threw a small stone that hit the blond in the shoulder while Jaune looked at him confused. "What… didn't I tell you every time you mess up I was going to throw a stone at you?" he asked in a clearly knowing tone as he threw another one at him. Now less glaring… more poking… you will poke until you can poke through anything… iron, steel, diamond… even perhaps Haki… Start over!" he demanded, throwing another stone at him for messing up…_

…

As Jaune kept it up, Miles soon jumped back and suddenly called out with his hand on his blade the final skill they would be testing him on, both his and Jaune's favorite one at that.

"Rankyaku/ Rankyaku!" both shouted out as both jumped back and kicked out two waves of bladed-green energy that canceled each other out. Both pulling out their swords once again, they continued their former sword-fight, this time channeling their Rankyaku in their blades…

…

 _"_ _What it seems like, anyone could use Rankyaku… even swordsman and huntsman" Jaune said as Miles nodded._

 _"_ _Indeed, while Soru would be considered the basic and first Rokushiki, the Rankyaku would be the one that anyone can use… the difference is however we call it Rankyaku because we don't use blades but our own legs to generate the attack. Anyone can use a sword or a weapon and make a super-cool attack but real fighters can do that without weapons… or at the very least can protect themselves… Weapons are just tools that we ourselves make for us and allow to become a part of us. That is why the Rankyaku is a technique that allows us to demonstrate the abilities of a weapon without one… understand?"_

 _"…_ _No… not really" Jaune admitted while Miles sighed. He was still more young and clumsy… and a bit more on the slow side of this but he digressed. From what it sounded like the people of Remnant used super mech-shift weapons and guns… forget those… real men fought with either their fists of blades… or a separate gun... not some fancy-pants Scythe-Riffle or transforming grenade launching war hammer._

 _Though cool, just seemed overly complicated and kind of show-offish…_

 _No, he was going to show Jaune how to be a badass by fighting with kicks, pokes and walking on freaking air… while also using a sword. That being said, he prepared to get the kid trained… he just needed to tie the stones to his feet first… it would be like Shigan training… but with your legs… and more stones to chuck at him._

…

As they both grunted, having been pushed back by the last Rankyaku, Jaune smirked while Miles laughed… it was time to wrap it up. Jaune wasn't able to perform that final technique yet so he could write that one off. So instead…

"Jaune… show me just how strong _That_ Rankyaku actually is…" he called out as Jaune kept his smirk… he wasn't sure if he could fully use that but he knew one thing...

Mezz D, Miles was a freaking tank enough to take it. Grabbing his blade in both hands, he gathered his aura in the blade as Miles activated his Haki and prepared to take the blow. Swinging the blade down with both hands, the area turned into a deep yellow and the island shook from a large-scale Rankyaku…

Once things calmed down, Miles grunted, the attack cutting through both his Haki and Tekkai before Jaune was pushed back by the force and collided into some trees, unconscious from aura exhaustion… Grabbing his injured arm, he just looked at Jaune and smiled… an attack that could cut threw one's Haki but exhausts him for using it… Only he could do something so reckless… it reminded him of himself really.

"Alright… I think we're done here…" he said before picking up the unconscious student and headed back to the camp. 'You came a long way kid… and if you really are serious about looking for Remnant… then you'll have to keep getting stronger.'

…

The next day, Jaune smiled as he stepped on a small boat with two oars and checked his supplies. "Alright… so food, compass and map of South Blue… and I guess I still have that loan that I can use until I get some money myself…" he muttered out loud as he remembered him being given a loan of about seventeen-hundred Belli as it was called. He knew he was going to have issues with the whole Belli from Lien currency but he digressed.

As he looked back at Miles, who smirked and saw him off, Jaune nodded his head and pushed off as he prepared to head to the next island. It was stupid and reckless for him to set sail with no idea what he was going to do when he was out at sea. Not only that but he didn't even know what he could do.

'Remnant… it might be impossible for me to every return… but if I do get back… what then?' he thought as he rowed his way away from Dusk Island. After some time however, he froze and calmly rested his hand on his blade, waiting for what had once given him nightmares that seemed like more of an annoyance to him now.

As the sea-king rose up from the waves, the small boat was pushed back as Jaune smirked. This was Mile's final test. Take down Old Scars and you can handle yourself in the South Blue. Jumping using his enhanced agility, he quickly drew his sword and released a line of concentrated energy that was quick to decapitate the large beast.

As the beast fell back into the water, Jaune landed on the boat, trying to stay balanced as the sea-king's fell landed next to him. As the waters calmed and Jaune could properly stand… he laughed. That was amazing… that had to look cool like something Ruby did to that Nevermore back in the Emerald Forest…

That was something Ren could have probably done… or heck, anyone could have done back home but he just had to celebrate that. He could actually fight now…

And now… it was time to head off to the next island.

…

 _Rokushiki/ Six Styles_

 _Rankyaku/ Tempest Kick_

 _Gepo/ Moonwalk_

 _Soru/ Shave_

 _Shigan/ Finger Pistol_

 _Tekkai/ Iron Body_

 _Kami-E/ Paper Drawing_

 _Shigan: Yari/ Finger Pistol: Spear_

…

 **And cut… alright, so I changed a few things here… basically I gave Jaune Haki early-game. Now can he do something like coat himself in Haki like Vergo, cut up Pica or Oars like Zoro or even do half the stuff others could in the New World… no he cannot. But he can hit Zoans, he can predict movements and he can even hold his ground against someone like Smoker while Luffy more had to either run or get help from others…**

 **Haki wise, he's something like the Kuja… not Hancock, Marigold or Sandersora but the Kuja civilians in terms of Haki.**

 **Next up is his skills in the Rokushiki… at the moment; he would probably be around Bluno level, not counting Jaune's Haki or semblance. So while he knows the basics and some higher level ones, people like Kaku, Lucci and anyone from CP0 could more or less kill him at the moment.**

 **And like I said earlier… Mezz D. Miles is based on Joan of Arc's story with Jean de Metz, one of the first people to believe in Joan of Arc and was one of her first knights.**


	4. Little Moss Island

**Alright so here's the next chapter and a little bit of a change into the original story I decided to add. Now I want to address this now… the language is strong in this one… like the Jaune Arc swear rant strong so if you are easily offended by swearing… it might be best to skip this chapter. Other than that I DO NOT own RWBY, One Piece, any characters abilities or other in this story as they all belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

Jaune smiled as he finally reached shore after three long and leg-cramping days of rowing. Standing in his small boat, he took in the island scenery with excitement, the wet shore sand being crunshed under his feet as he walked on the beach and enjoyed the view. "So… this is Little Moss Island… at least it has a small town so I can get some new clothes… maybe even get some actual food instead of coconuts or fruit."

Jaune Arc was tired of eating coconuts and fruit. Hell he couldn't even have any fish because even if he did catch one, what could he use to cook them with… He needed a bigger boat and some people that knew how to cook. That actually reminded him of something…

Reaching into the boat, he pulled out a small note book, a small hand sized one that he would often draw notes or plans in while he was on Dusk Island… not like he could watch T.V or read X-Ray and Vav comics on that island. Looking through the contents displayed on the paper, he came across a line that said one word.

Crew:

Looking down, Jaune knew that he was going to eventually head to the Grand Line and that was a feat impossible for someone to do by themselves… especially when they planned on exploring the seas there with all the things he heard about the place. Seriously according to Miles that place was known as the Pirate Graveyard for reasons and that wasn't even getting involved with the shit he heard about the New World. He shuddered at the thought of floating islands that could crash back into the ocean or an island of nothing but raining electricity.

And that wasn't even taking into account the Shichibukai or the Yonko. His skills aside, he was confident that he could handle most things in the South Blue… but a Shichibukai would be a coin toss…

A Yonko would be suicide.

Looking at the notepad and trying to get that last thought out of his head, he skimmed through the positions that Miles said he'd probably need to fill out before he got to the Grand Line.

First-Mate: Well that would probably be the most important one in several ways since the first-mate was the second in command and acted right under the captain. If he was going to start a crew than he needed to find someone he could honestly trust, someone that wouldn't stab him in the back and someone who would have his back when things got rough. And considering just where he planned to go rough was one hell of an understatement.

Navigator: Another important position that needed to be filled up as soon as it could. Sure Jaune knew basic navigation… Miles beat it into him with all the other stuff he had to learn. The strange thing is though that navigation in the Grand Line was supposedly different and he needed to get a Log Pose while he was at it. From what he was told he could get one somewhere in South Blue for decent price but they were still around a pretty Lien in price… or Belli in price in this case.

Shipwright: Another good thing to keep an eye out for, ships could easily get damaged in the seas. Weather, pirate raids, sea-kings and who knows what else posed a threat to him while he was out at sea so a shipwright was a needed member if he wanted to keep a ship in decent condition.

Doctor: And yet another position that needed to be filled, people got sick, he got sick and from what he was told the life at seas weren't exactly considered healthy by any means. Yeah sure you could just your aura and heal your wounds but viruses were another thing all together, not to mention that the others wouldn't exactly have the benefit of having aura.

Cook: Well… he was at least partially prepared with that one. Growing up with seven sisters and all did have its perks. It taught him valuable lessons such as basic cooking, cleaning, dancing and how to be utterly annoying all in the means of an only defense. Chokai was what Miles called it and he forbid Jaune from ever using it around him again… he wasn't even being that annoying.

Next… there was the ever obvious ship itself. He had no idea why it was placed in the "Needed Crew Members" section but it might as well have been. He needed a good ship to make it from island to island… maybe even give it a cool name. Maybe related to a color in honor of the rule that was established during the Great War. Looking at his own hand, he smiled at that.

Other positions were blacksmiths, gunners, musicians, second-mate, and for some reason, he wanted a dentist and a psychologist. A dentist…because he wanted good oral hygiene… How can you beat the heck out of someone with a tooth ache and he wasn't going to become a toothless nut just because he was too lazy to hire a dentist. A psychologist however was something he felt they all would need because he knew that at least once in their trip, someone would have some kind of break down and need to grasp understanding in it all.

He nearly had a panic attack just by seeing the moon the first time… and another one when he realized that there were sea-kings and other monsters worse than Old Scars. So yeah… a psychologist would be nice to have… maybe a bartender or a brewer just so he could have a drink to forget certain days he knew he was going to have to deal with…

He blamed Miles for that one… he might not have been considered a heavy drinker and preferred stuff like hot-chocolate or something else but he was old enough to drink so in one way or another… Meh, fuck it… if he wanted to get buzzed then he was getting buzzed. He deserved it after spending three years on an island of dangerous animals and a drunken nut-job who made it his life-goal to torment you in cruel and unusual ways.

But that was beside the point by now as he thought it better to put that bit of his memories with the old man aside and focus on the future. As he continued to walk to the town, he could honestly admit that things were much calmer than Remnant was. Before there was a threat of the Grimm that was obvious to everyone but here, there was no Grimm.

There was no danger of Grimm and that instantly made things nice… and heartbreaking to think about. His friends were most likely fighting stronger and stronger Grimm by now, and here he was enjoying a peaceful life. Honestly he didn't know what to feel about that line of thought. Still… as weird as it sounded he wasn't going to let it consume him. Right now all he needed to do was-

"Please, no!" a woman's voice called out as Jaune stopped in his tracks and snapped back to reality before looking at the direction of the voice's source.

* * *

"Come on, babe… just a little money is all we need" one man said as Jaune noticed two older men harassing a young woman. Frowning, Jaune gripped his blade and strolled over to them.

"But… I don't" she tried to say before another man spoke up.

"You don't what? Are you saying you won't help two poor men that are down on their luck… that's awfully mean of you" he said as the other man nodded, pulling out a pistol as the woman seemed afraid.

Maybe she needs a little friendly reminder of what courtesy is" he said before he was interrupted by a "cough" and turned to see a man with tattered clothes and blond hair smiling at them. "…What the hell do you want, punk?"

Jaune said nothing as he observed the two. The first man holding the gun was about a hair or two bigger than he was, having a scar on his cheek while his partner wore what looked like some kind of winter hat and glared at him with just as much distain as his accosiate.

"…You're mugging her?" he said bluntly as the two men frowned. No shit they were mugging her… was this guy some kind of idiot? The woman however just looked at him, both thankful but afraid before the gun was pointed towards his head.

"…Heh, you got a problem with that?" the goon asked as Jaune frowned. He had several with that but remained calm with narrowed eyes. He wasn't paying as much attention to the two thugs as much as he was observing the woman. It was clear that she was scared; her shaking was any indication of that. But that was beside the point at the moment before he heard the man speak up again. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"And I don't really care…" he said while catching the two off guard. "You alright?" he asked the young woman before the man lost his patience, pulling the trigger with the gun being fired at his head at point-blank range. The woman screamed and looked away while trying not to imagine the brutal death that happened to the blond haired stranger. However, a voice spoke up, making her turn back to the man in nervousness.

"W-What the…" the man with the gun said as he saw the bullet bounce off of the blond stranger, his blue eyes now on him before he frowned.

"That answers that…" Jaune muttered as he was curious to see if he was actually going to be shot. Using a mix of his Tekkai and his Kenbunshoku Haki, he just frowned and decided to take advantage of the confusion. Reeling back his fist and channeling some aura into it, Jaune punched the man both off his feet and into a building.

"W-What the hell?!" the other man shouted in shock before he pulled out his own gun and took aim at him. Just like before Jaune simply used Tekkai to block the bullets with an annoyed expression. "Y-You bastard… what the hell, why aren't you dying…?" he shouted before running out of bullets, the clicks of empty barrels echoing in the silence while Jaune merely crossed his arms.

"…You done?" he asked before the other man pulled out a sword and rushed him. If bullets didn't work to shoot him to death then he'd just have to cut him to shreds.

"Look out!" the woman cried out in alarm as Jaune remained still and the sword shattered upon contact. The woman froze in shock, the thug no better as Jaune finally had enough.

"Yeah… you're done" he said before uncrossing his arms and extending his index finger. Confused, the thug glared and took a step back. This freak not only took out his partner but weapons didn't even seem to faze him in the slightest. Before he could try something else, Jaune merely rushed forward, piercing his shoulder with his finger and pulling it out without hesitation.

"Gah… you… you bastard… do you know who I am… I'm with Rein Zero… a member of the Panda Family… you won't get away with this… you fucking-"

Jaune said nothing, punching him in the gut and knocking him out. Seeing him fall to the ground, he addressed the woman that now looked at him in absolute terror. What the hell was he… to take down two men and to take a gun and a blade like he did without any damage? He was a monster… And now he was looking right at her. Closing her eyes, she waited for what he was going to do to her…

"You alright…?" Jaune asked as he held out a hand, the woman slowly looking at him, seeing his blue eyes, no longer hardened but now more soft than what she'd expect. Slowly nodding and returning to her senses, she took his hand and was brought back to her feet. Jaune however finally got a decent look at her.

She was probably a few inches shorter than he was… probably around the same age as Velvet… heck she looked like her to some degree to. Long chestnut hair and black eyes… not to mention she wore a black shirt and a white blouse dress… He quickly snapped out of reality when he realized he was still holding her hand and immediately let go with a mild blush.

"S-sorry… um, I'm Jaune…" he introduced himself while the woman blushed slightly and nodded.

"…Rally… how you did that… it was amazing!" she said as Jaune looked at her and blushed slightly at the bit of praise.

"…W-well I was trained to fight by my teacher… he told me I needed to get stronger before I headed out to sea" he said, stuttering a little. Oh great, his first conversation with someone other than Miles in three years and he was messing up… he might as well have added that "Short, Sweet and rolls off the tongue" bit as well.

"You were trained to do that… your teacher must be some kind of amazing person if he taught you how to do that" she complemented while Jaune just said nothing… oh yeah, Miles was something alright… he just didn't want to say it.

"Well…I'm glad you're alright… who are these guys anyways?" he asked as Rally seemed confused by that. He didn't know? They were followers of one of the Panda Family executives…

The silence was strong before the young woman froze and finally shouted out as she realized just what Jaune actually did. He beat the hell out of two members of the Panda Family… and acted like it was nothing.

"What, what's wrong?" Jaune asked before she now looked at her savior with a worry etched on her face.

"You just took down two members of the Panda Family… oh god this is bad… you have to get out of here, right now" she said with clear worry as Jaune frowned.

"But I literally just got here" he somewhat whined, not wanting to head out to the next island in under the first five minutes of even being on the island. Rally however refused to take that for an answer.

"…Jaune… you do know about the Panda Family, right?" she asked as Jaune was confused… the Panda Family? Who the heck were they? Rally, seeing his confusion just stared… he really didn't know… and he just picked a fight with them… all because he saved her. "This is my fault… oh god, Jaune… I'm sorry…"

"Alright, don't apologize… just… who are these panda guys anyways?" he asked as Rally looked at him before she looked away. Jaune could tell she was feeling guilty about this… or whatever this apparently was. "Look, I don't know these guys but if they're that bad then I'll deal with it… so don't feel bad about something I wanted to do, alright…" he said, trying to sound convincing. Being a brother and having several sisters both older and younger… he had some practice with this kind of thing back home.

Rally just looked at him like he was insane before slowly accepting that. Seeing her nod, Jaune decided to ask one question. "…On another note… do you know where I could get some new clothes?" he asked as the young woman looked at him and noticed just how bad his torn clothes were. It looked like he was fighting some kind of animal and got mauled in them.

…It wasn't necessarily a lie either…

"…Oh uh, sure, I actually work at a clothing store so… if you want I can get you some clothes, my treat" she said, spluttering out with a small blush as Jaune smiled.

"Really, thanks Rally but you don't have to buy them for me. I have some money-"

"No… I mean you did save me so it wouldn't be any trouble" she said as Jaune nodded and smiled. Thankful that he was getting a new pair of clothes from the young woman, he slowly followed her into town while at the same time wondering just who those thugs were he never heard of the Panda Family before but apparently they were some kind of big deal…

He was going to ask her about that when he got some new clothes first.

* * *

Around two and a half hours later, Jaune sat down at a small table, now wearing a tan short-sleeve shirt and black pants, his two belts from his older set of clothes still being worn while he now wore a pair of brown fingerless gloves and matching boots.

"So… who are these Panda Family guys anyways?" Jaune asked while Rally sat next to him, looking at him with a nervous expression on her face before she decided to explain.

"The Panda Family… is the largest underground cartel in South Blue" she said as Jaune was a bit shocked to hear that. He knew about pirates and the marines and the revolutionaries of course but a sea-mafia? That was honestly a new one.

"So essentially this is just some kind of mafia… wait, does that mean I have to be afraid of some gang trying to kill me now?" he asked her while she looked away. Jaune, taking her silence as his answer just sighed. Great… not even ten minutes on his first island and he already could have pissed of some kind of mafia off.

"Jaune… this is my fault" she said trying to take responsibility. "If it wasn't for me you would've-"

"Don't apologize. I told you this isn't your fault. I intervened because I wanted to and because it was the right thing to do. This is my mistake… and one that I don't regret." Looking confused, Rally just saw Jaune smile "I might not know much about these guys but I know that you could have been killed… so I don't regret beating the hell out of those guys… if they want a fight then I'll give them one."

"But, Jaune… these guys are the strongest and most feared people in South Blue you really think you can handle them?" Rally asked as Jaune smiled.

"Don't know but I'm going to be heading into the Grand Line soon enough so at least I won't be alone" he said as Rally looked at him in shock. The Grand Line…?! Jaune was heading there of all places… the only people who even went to the Grand Line were…

"…Jaune" she asked hesitenty as he looked at her. "A-are you a pirate?" she asked as Jaune just smiled a bit.

"Not really… well not a pirate anyways, you see, um, how do I explain this…?" he said before a new voice caught their attention.

"Might as well be… not like there's anything wrong with being a pirate" an older man spoke up, his black hair and matching eyes looking at him in a judging gaze as he took their attention.

"Dad… w-what are you doing here?" Rally asked as Jaune felt his eyes widen at that. Dad?! This was Rally's father… they had the same eyes but that was about it. The older man merely smiled and crossed his arms, walking up to them with his wooden leg echoing in the room as he did.

"When I heard my daughter was attacked by those Panda thugs… I came as soon as I could… but imagine my surprise when I heard rumors of some half-naked blond kid saving her and being lead into her store… after hours" he said that last bit with a glare as the two of them both blushed at what he might have suggested.

"…I-I wasn't… he just needed clothes!" Rally screamed out embarrassed at her old man would even think that while said man was smirking.

"Not that I don't agree… he seems like a decent person… but that doesn't mean I allow him and my daughter to get too comfortable with one another… unless he thinks he can woo me over" he said with a bit of teasing as Rally just hid her face in her hands while Jaune tried to remain neutral… something that was rather hard for him to do.

"…She just gave me some clothes, sir" Jaune said as the old man kept his smile.

"And you happened to save her life… you remind me of myself when I first met my wife though I wasn't half naked when I met her"

"Dad… Jaune wasn't naked, he had a full set of clothes on the entire time" she said as Jaune nodded.

"Ripped and torn to shreds… just what did you go through to ruin those clothes like that?" he asked as Jaune laughed a bit nervously at that.

"…Would you believe I was stuck on an island with a drunk swordsman that trained me to decapitate a sea-king?" he asked as the old man looked at him with a curious glance.

"Son, I believe in a lot of things… but that doesn't matter. You saved my daughter and I can tell that you're a lot stronger than you look… Have to say though… I'm shocked you don't know anything about the Panda Family… where are you from anyways?" he asked as Rally was looking at him curious. All he said was that he was trained for three years by his teacher…

"…A place I don't even know where to find" he admitted as the two looked at him confused. What on earth did that mean?

"Mind explaining, son?" the old man asked as Jaune frowned.

"I guess… the best way to explain it is that… I'm not from South Blue… or even any of the Four Blues… that's why I'm heading into the Grand Line… just incase I find a way back to Remnant" he said as the two looked at him confused.

"Remnant… never heard of that, what's it like?" the old man said as Jaune just sighed. While Rally was looking at him in concern her father was listening with a gaze while trying to tell if he was lying. By the time he was finished, even showing him his so-called "Aura," the older man just sighed.

"And you have no idea how to get back to this Remnant Place…" he said while Rally just stared at him… seriously, what kind of place was Jaune from…? It just seemed ridiculous. Heck she heard of the things in the Grand Line from when he father was a sailor but… this was something completely different entirely.

"…I don't know if I even can get back… but if I can't then what am I supposed to do? I'm not just going to sit back and do nothing" he said as the older man smiled.

"Well, it's your call, Jaune… but if you don't have a place to stay… then pirate or not you'll always be welcomed here" the old man said as Jaune and Rally looked at him in shock.

"…R-really?! Thanks, sir" Jaune said as the old man smiled.

"Please… call me Forex" he said as Jaune nodded, a little confused by the name but was grateful nonetheless. Rally however smiled, happy that her new friend was accepted by her father-

"but if you do anything to my daughter then so help me even Impel Down will seem like a luxury resort compared to my wrath" Forex added as Jaune paled at that while Rally just gawked at that.

"We… are not… dating…" she said as Forex smiled. He knew but love was a complex thing… besides it was a father's job to keep boys like Jaune away from her.

Jaune, recovering from the older man's threat, just nodded and smiled. "Thanks… I really appreciate-"

*Slam*

"Forex" a man said as he slammed the door open and ran to the trio, Jaune and Forex looking at the man confused as Rally looked at him a bit concerned.

"Hue, what's wrong, what's happening?" Forex asked as the man, Hue, caught his breath and looked at his old friend with a fearful look on his face.

"…It's Rein Zero… he's in town… he's looking for that kid, he's looking for him" Hue said, pointing at Jaune as the former Beacon Student narrowed his eyes while Forex and Rally seemed shook up about that. "That bastard, he's calling a meeting and is sending his men out to look for him!"

"…Alright, Jaune I want you to stay here, Rally, stay close to me and Hue" he said as Hue and Rally both frowned, Jaune voicing his concerns.

"This Rein Zero guy is looking for me… shouldn't I-" Jaune tried to say before Forex interrupted him.

"No, you need to stay hidden, Jaune… if they find you then you're going to have a lot more problems than just two thugs. Rein Zero isn't just an ordinary thug, Jaune. He's a devil fruit user and an executive of the Panda Family at that. If he finds you then I doubt you'll be able to take both him and his entire squad on at once."

"But-" Jaune tried to say before Rally spoke up this time.

"We'll be fine, Jaune. Just stay here for now and we'll tell you what's going on when we get back. If anyone comes to the store then stay hidden" she said as Jaune frowned but nodded begrudgingly. He didn't want to get them into a fight if this Rein Zero guy started one.

As the three left, Jaune could only curse at the situation he found himself in… on the very first island at that, he somehow upset some sea-mafia and now he was stuck hiding in a shop…

He just hoped that they would be alright

* * *

As the people gathered in the square, Rally, Hue and Forex all stood there in silence. Thoughts filled with worry, fear and uncertainty were shared with the other people while several men in suits were standing around. As they waited, they heard the townspeople talking about their newest friend that had earned Rein Zero's wrath.

"What's this all about… what happened to get Rein Zero so upset?" a woman asked as an older man frowned.

"From what I heard… someone showed up and took down two of Rein Zero's grunts" he said as the woman and some people around them all seemed slightly horrified by that.

"You're saying someone attacked the Panda Family?" the woman said as the man said nothing.

"Who did it… did he even know who they were?" another man asked while a woman frowned at that, seemingly pissed.

"They had to of… the Panda Family is too well-renown" she said as she knew first hand that the Panda Family was capable of many things.

"Who on earth would do such a thing… and are they still here?" a young man asked as another set of comments started.

"I heard he destroyed a house nearby and broke the other man's ribs…" an older woman said while her sister spoke another rumor.

"I heard he was a beast from outside the island…" she said as the first woman frowned.

"You mean a monster…" she asked before another man asked a more realistic question.

"Was he a pirate?" he asked as their confusion and worry turned into anger.

"Just what we need, a damn pirate running around" a man said as a woman spoke up.

"I hope they just find him and leave us out of this whole thing" she said as other agreed with her.

"They should go after him and not us" a man said.

"It isn't right for us to suffer because of some delinquent" a young woman cried out

"He should be here instead of us" a man grumbled in fury.

"That coward is probably hiding right now…" a woman with a child hugging her leg accused with venom.

"We should find him and bring him to Rein Zero… we might be forgiven if we do" a woman proposed as her sister nodded at the idea while the older man from before just sighed.

"That's probably what this is about…" he said with a frown. All the meanwhile, Rally looked down while Hue saw logic in it while Forex spat on the ground. He wasn't sure if they spineless cowards or honest people. But after meeting Jaune himself, Forex knew that Jaune meant well. Better than most people that sailed the seas anyways.

He didn't blame the people though. After the grip that the Panda Family had over the South Blue was well established people just grew used to it. Now when someone comes along and does something so reckless and they're the ones that could potentially be blamed…

He wasn't sure if he would do the same…

Rally however felt guilt boil inside her since she was the reason Jaune took those two down in the first place. Now the entire town and the people were in danger. And Jaune was the one being scapegoat into it. He didn't have anyone other than his teacher and now he had possibly the entire town against him.

"Forex… that boy… just who is he…?" Hue asked in a hushed voice so that no one would hear him. The older man said nothing while indicating he would tell him more about Jaune later. Soon enough, the suit wearing men parted and a man walked to the crowd while wearing a white suit and black tie, his nearly-shaved head covered by a fedora while his eyes were covered in sunglasses that reflected the crowd's images back at them.

Then he started to address them.

"Tell me… is there no justice in the world?" he asked as the people glared at him, his actions alone contradicting his false gentleman façade as they recalled how he easily invaded their home, attacked and separated many of their friends and family and had his henchmen completely make their lives miserably.

"I have been patient; I have been kind and most of all… I have been lenient. In fact I allow you to all live your meaningless lives to whatever you truly desire to do. Yet all I asked in return was that you accepted me and my followers as one of your own. After all we are all human and we all deserve the rights of human needs. Some food for our bellies, a place to rest and a growing and budding relationship between us all…"

Forex glared at that. He recalled his mentioned "Relationship" quite well enough. How they came and stole their food, confiscated their homes and demanded money from them, even going as far as to take it or even beating some of them. His daughter would have been one such victim if it wasn't for the man that had saved her.

"But despite this… two of my men were poorly mistreated… denied and scolded unjustly… hurt… injured… and _Beaten_ within an inch of their lives!" he shouted in clear anger, causing everyone to flinch as he started to grow more angry. "Now I know none of you vermin would _dare_ to act out to the man that had only ever been kind to you… but I know that somewhere on this miserable speck of land there is someone who has truly no respect for their betters."

The people were now getting worried as the man went on, Rally was trying to remain calm but the man soon calmed down… the venom in his words however did not leave. In fact, it only seemed to grow.

"Now I can be… let's use the term "icky" shall we. And when I become icky then people around me… are rather unfortunate souls. Now I don't want to be an icky person, I don't want to see me as an icky person. Tell me, does anyone-anyone at all want to see me be icky?!" he asked as no one said anything.

He smiled at that. "I thought so…now here's the thing. I am a fair and reasonable man and have a fair and reasonable point of view" he said while everyone just thought to themselves that was utter bullshit. He shot a guy for sneezing just four days ago. "So all I ask is that you… wonderful people bring me this man and I ensure you the person who does will be thanked graciously…"

As he went on, he scanned the audience, eventually stopping at Rally, who flinched under his gaze. "However… there is one among you that he had shown some reason to help… someone who I was told of that was rather rude to my men…" he said as everyone froze, one of them were with the pirate?!

Forex was about to say something before he was quickly shot and fell to the ground, a suit-wearing man holding a gun pointed at him as Rally just screamed in horror at her father collapsing on the ground, breathing heavily before the people scattered. "A certain young woman had allowed this man, after attacking my men into the town."

Rally tried to reach her father before a suited man grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her up to the stage where Rein Zero was. Hue looked horrified as he tried to help his old friend with what he could while the others just looked at the scene in horror. Others looked at Rally's struggling form in different emotions on their faces.

There were mixes of shock, disbelief, horror, anger, disappointment and disgust. As she was brought up to the stage, Rein Zero just smirked. "So… this is the woman that showed my men disrespect…not to mention the fact you allowed someone to brutally assault them afterwards… Tell me, what's your name?"

As she said nothing, he grew impatient; backhanding her while several of the people froze. "Rally!" Hue cried out in fear as Rein Zero smiled. So that's what her name was…

"Rally… what an interesting name to say the least. Now tell me Rally… do you know who I am?"

"…Rein Zero" she said in fear as the man smirked.

"So you can talk… tell me, do you know just who I work for… which family? Go on, don't be shy" he said as she tried to fight the tears in her eyes, her father being shot and on the ground.

"The Panda Family…" she choked out as Rein Zero smirked.

"Good, I work for the Panda Family… no, I am an executive of the Panda Family. Yet despite this I was told that you were rather unpleasant with my men. They said they were going to teach you how to be a good girl… Do you want to be a good girl?"

"…I" she muttered as she was forced to look at him in the eyes, seeing her reflection with bloodshot and tears in her eyes while her check was swelling from the blow.

"Do you… want to be… a good girl?" he said, earning a slight nod from the woman who could no longer speak. Letting go of her, and having her return her gaze to the floor, Rein Zero smiled. "You want to be a good girl…but you have done some very bad things… you insulted my men, allowed your father to be punished and worse of all you allowed some street urchin to fester in our homes and do harm onto us all. Your father was hurt by him, my men were hurt by him… he has hurt us both dear… and that is unforgivable."

No one said anything as they just watched on in horror while Forex tried to get up, only to be kept down by Hue. "Forex… just stay down… she'll be alright… just don't push it" he tried to say while Forex himself was truly pissed. The bastard could shoot him, he could even kill him… but the moment he laid a hand on his daughter then all bets were fucking off.

Before he could do anything however, Rein Zero spoke up once again.

"So tell me… where your little friend is?" he asked as Rally said nothing, clearly shaken and soon enough broke down. That being said, Rein Zero just sighed and turned around. "Apparently you don't care about being a good girl… but that's alright. I heard rumors that you took your little rouge boy-toy to that little shop. A few of my men are there now, they should be here soon…" he said as he began to smirk, putting on a thinking pose.

"Tell me, do you want me to kill him… do you want to see him die for his actions that you caused?" he asked as Rally snapped.

"No… No!" she yelled as she was once again smacked and landed to the ground with a thud. Two suited men soon approached her as Rein Zero smiled.

"For the crime of aiding a pirate, the crime of failing to be a civilized brat and for just outright being rude to both me and my men… I have no choice~ but to be icky, to be mean, and to watch everything you love and cherish." Turning to the men, he gave a nod and they soon held her by the arms while he pulled out a gun.

"Rally!" her father called out as he now got up, and pointed a gun at Rein Zero, shooting him trying to save his daughter before the bullets bounced off of him, his eyes turning to the injured man before he shot him before the audience, a new hole in his chest before another… and another.

Five times shot from the four from Rein Zero and the one from the suited man, Forex fell to the ground; Hue trying to help him before Rein Zero finally had enough. "Now this is the last straw. All I have been was nice and sweet but here I get further insulted by being shot at my own meeting. …Kill him, hold him down and tie him and the coward by him up for the firing squad" he ordered before he turned to the young woman who he pointed his gun at. "As for you… you're going to watch this… you're going to learn respect… you're going to-"

The sounds of screaming were heard as he was interrupted by one of his men being tossed up to the stage with him. Looking back angered, he noticed the crowd become eerily quiet as they looked at a man slowly walking towards the stage, blood on his clothes and fingers with his hair shaggy blond hair covering his eyes.

"That's him…" one man muttered as a woman followed suit.

"He's here…" she said with a fearful expression as another one spoke up.

"He did all this?" she reminded before a man noticed his red stained attire and froze.

"Is that blood?!" he shouted out as the executive looked at him with a smirk. The woman could wait his attention all on the bastard that caused all of this.

"So… you're the one who caused all of this?" he said as he just smirked. "I expected someone… more intimidating."

"And you're this Rein Zero bastard that I heard so much about" Jaune stated with narrowed eyes as he saw Forex and Hue on the ground, the older man looking at him in agony and disbelief. Didn't he tell the other man to stay in the store?

"Jaune…" Rally muttered as Rein Zero barely heard that.

"Jaune… so your name is Jaune. Tell me Jaune… why have you come to this island?"

"Maybe it's to do some soul searching" he said without any real emotion other than silent anger as Rein Zero seemed interested.

"Soul searching… now that was a new one. Most people just say that they want to be pirates or something… tell me… Jaune, just how long have you been searching for your soul?" he asked as Jaune shrugged it off, the people staring silently while the suited followers of Rein Zero just watched, not sure what to make of the new conversation.

Oh, it was absolutely clear that both men were angry and were ready to try and kill one another… the calm before the storm while Jaune merely replied with an uncaringly retort.

"About a few days… to be honest I just got here a little over, I don't know, four or five hours now?" he said unsure while Rein Zero just frowned.

"And in this five hours time limit you had attacked my men?" he asked as Jaune smirked at that, making him narrow his eyes.

"I kicked their collective asses in the first five minutes… heck not even" he said, seemingly irritated at the fact he assaulted two members of the Panda Family, making Rein Zero growl.

"Tell me; just who do you think I am?"

"…Rein Zero"

"And do you know who I work for, who I'm with!" he shouted out in clear rage while Jaune decided to take control of this conversation.

"I know and you want to know something… I don't fucking care" he admitted, making everyone freeze, Rein Zero was in all honesty, staring at him in some kind of confused emotion. This guy… didn't care? The townspeople were horrified while Rally was now with her father and Hue, trying to help him up before looking at Jaune.

"…You… don't care?" he asked out loud as her suddenly snarled at the incompetent fool of a man that dared to insult him. "Let me remind you just what kind of enemy you just made… I am Rein Zero of the Panda Family… the strongest underground family in South Blue. And you are just a man… an idiotic boy that has no right to stand before me!"

"…Are you done" Jaune asked annoyed before he took over the conversation. "Because do you want to know something… ever since I learned about this whole Panda Family I was told that you were strong… you were a monster… that you would make my life a living hell and here you are, hiding behind your nameless men and bitching like you're some kind of heroic victim in all of this. So you know what, fuck it because right now… you have two choices…"

"You can either shut the hell up and get out of my sight, leave this island and just piss off… or you can fucking fight me. You can stab me, shoot me, punch me, bite me hell you can even try to fuck me to death but you know what… you're nothing. I fought a giant man-eating boar, was trained by a drunken senile assassin, tormented for three fucking, mentally scaring years and had to deal with bull shit like the Motivation Stick, being chased by wolves… and had to carve a damn statue made out of stone with my literal dick. So if you aren't going to fight me, if you're just going to stand around and bitch at me then so help me I will come up there, drag your ass off that high-horse you put yourself on and make you the bitch you truly… fucking… are!"

The area was captured in pure foreboding silence as no one… none of the islanders, none of Rein Zero's men and especially Rein Zero himself, as he just stared at the blond swordsman while he was panting from his swear-rant/ mental breakdown. Jaune was angry… no, he was pissed. Pissed that the first island he landed on, he had to deal with some mafia that shot his friend's father, sent some of his butt-buddy lackeys to try and kill him and more importantly was about to kill his new friend, her father, their friends and has the balls to act he was the hero in this.

But he was nothing… He wasn't this horrifying monster that he was warned about… Torchwick was probably more intimidating… hell Cardin was probably more intimidating because at least the Beacon student that bullied him throughout most of his time there actually more bite than he was bark. He knew he was probably going to regret that and he didn't even know what he even really said, being honest with himself… but like he said.

He didn't care… so he was either going to have to make him leave or beat his ass into the ground. And after everything the swordsman had learned, seen and dealt with… he hoped he was stupid enough to choose the latter option.

no one dared to say anything before, just as Jaune expected, Rein Zero snapped. Screaming at the top of his lungs, he shot the gun at the man who said such horrible things to him and didn't care if anyone was shot in the crossfire. Jaune just took the bullets, his aura and Tekkai protecting him throughout the offensive assault before Rein Zero switched to his blade. Rushing at the swordsman, he tried to slice him in half.

Because that worked so well before with his minions

As the blade shattered into pieces, the man went straight for a punch, using his devil fruit to do so. Soon his fist took on the form of what seemed to be some kind of metal. Slamming his fist into Jaune's head, he knocked him down into the ground and began wailing on him, Jaune doing nothing to counter the older man that just kept punching him with his glasses falling down and exposing his red eyes.

"You… Cocky, worthless, arrogant, piece of shit! Do you fucking know who I am…? I am Rein Zero, I am a god compared to you, I am a man who is the honorable executive of lord Panda Bubba and you're nothing but an ant I can crush at any fucking time I well please!"

*Smack, Smack, Smack, Smack,*

"I am better than you, I am better than you and anyone else on this god-forsaken hell hole you call this meaningless island here!"

*Smack, Smack, Smack, Smack*

"I am a man of honor, a man of discipline who is of a higher class than you or any of these vermin are. But you, you are nothing. Nothing but a piece of shit… That is unworthy of my time and is nothing but a punk who's too stupid to know his place!"

*Smack, Smack, Smack, Smack*

"You want power, this is power… so say something, say something funny. Say how you're going to kick my ass like the bitch I am… go on… SAY IT!"

"…Fine" Jaune said, looking at him with a glare, not even a bruise on his face from the man's attacks while said man froze. He acted unfazed, like his blows didn't even affect him in the slightest. Jaune meanwhile just spat strait into his eye, causing the executive to reel back and reach for his now stinging eye before Jaune used this to place his palms on his chest and using his Gepo, sent him flying off of him to get back up.

"You… who do you think you are? Just what the hell even are you!" the man screamed out as Jaune said nothing. Rushing at him in a blind fury, all Jaune did was sidestep the sloppily executed punch and sigh, delivered a chop to the back of the man's neck. Watching the executive fall into an unconscious heap, he looked at the two men, still on the small platform Rein Zero was on and glared.

"You two… I want you to take him-" he said, pointing at Rein Zero, "Take your fellow grunts at the clothing store and get the hell off of this island because so help me if I have to beat every last one of you… I will." Throwing the executive at the two horrified men, Jaune spiked his aura, gaining everyone's attention once more. "Now get out of my sight…"

And with that, the suited men all ran from the clearly dangerous blond that took down their leader without even trying, his threat sounding much more like a promise than anything else. As they all left, Jaune just pinched the bridge of his nose, his patience wearing out as he questioned just how his life came to this. He was tired and didn't want to get into another fight but after everything that the man put this place through… attacking Rally, shooting her dad…

Shooting her dad… with metal bullets… five times…

Shit, he forgot about that. Looking at the crowd, he noticed Rally was staring at him in absolute horror… as was everyone else who witness just how he took down one of the greatest threats to be known on Little Moss Island… and so effortlessly. But that was besides the point as he looked at the man who was gasping for air and the swordsman cursed.

"Medic… we have an injured man over here…" Jaune shouted as he ran towards the injured man, who was the new center of attention. Channeling his aura into the older man's body, he tried to use his semblance to help him while a man and two women ran up to him.

"W-we're the local doctors here, let us help" he said, still nervous as Jaune nodded and kept his semblance on him to try and keep him alive. Channeling a large amount of aura into the man, he allowed them to take Forex to the nearest house while Rally and Hue quickly followed. No one said anything, Jaune just staring at the fleeing group that ran into a house.

Jaune just fell on his butt, crossing his legs and sighed. He didn't ask for this… he didn't want this… but now he knew that his one chance at becoming a humble traveler was taken away. If Rally was right then this Panda Family weren't going to just sit back and let one of their defeats go unpunished…

…If they wanted his head… they were going to try and take it but if they thought he was just going to give it to them then they were wrong. He would think about that later… all that mattered was the injured man in the house surviving. As he walked through the parted crowds, he heard several people muttering about him.

Hero… Monster… pirate… savior… Jaune didn't care about that anymore. They could call him whatever they wanted. Entering the house, he was immediately confronted by Rally, who caught him in an embrace; nearly crushing him at that, why did he feel his ribs getting crushed by an emotional bear hug when he being punched in the face by a metal fist did near nothing to him.

"…Thank-you" he heard her say, Hue looking at the two with a small smile while the three doctors were in the other room. Jaune just smiled at the gratitude, returning her embrace in a one armed hug. Maybe this turned out alright after all…

…

 **And cut. Alright so like I said, the language was a little strong in this one… I'm not sure if I made Jaune snapping too unrealistic or not. Going by his personality and his overall morals and consciousness, as well as the fact he spent three years training with a former CP0 agent, spent three days sailing in a little row boat and eating nothing but fruit and coconuts (Which, dumb question is a Coconut a fruit or no?) and essentially had to deal with not only two men mugging a woman who he befriended but having to deal with a squad of them sent after him… all while he was told that the executive was "Stronger than him" (not to mention I wanted to make Rein Zero essentially a mix between Torchwick, Felix and the stereotypical arrogant ring leader that focuses on his men doing his battles for him… all trying to make him unlikable.) Yeah, Jaune initially had a bit of a breakdown after all the shit he went through. Which will be better explained later on in the story.**

 **This was his way of "coping" with it.**

 **Now there are three reasons why I added this two chapter extra in the rewrite… The main reason is because I wanted Jaune to have a small misadventure without just jumping straight into him meeting his first crew member and actually "Interact" with other people. Looking back it seemed like the same old wash-rinse-repeat formula of Jaune and Co. arrive here, the meet insert person here and fight and more or less one-shot insert person here.**

 **Now with that being said there are still going to be some things I'm keeping in this from the last one… such as Jaune's running gag of getting shot at least once on every island. Neo and her abilities and some other things as well but there are three things I want to ask you guys on…**

 **1: Jaune's love interests: The main pairing is Jaune x Neo… but for kicks I was thinking having Jaune unknowingly or accidently having others develop small crushes or at the very least some kind of romantic interest but either be blind to it, mistaking it as them being nice, or him not even realizing it at all. It won't be anything major like Hancock's affection to Luffy but something more the lines of Ren and Nora from RWBY, not Chibi.**

 **If that's something you want then I'll add small jabs at it with some characters but no harem in the story…**

 **…**

 **2: Next is the whole thing with Team RWBY and (J)NPR learning more about Jaune. Like I said in the first version I wouldn't mind showing them learn more about Jaune, seeing him fight and stuff so if you want something like that then I'll take ideas… just try to make it seem realistic. Heck there were even a few RWBY react stories… and while I might sound like an "inexcusable asshole" for bringing it up, I'm not against a RWBY Reads version of this as long as everyone's alright with it. But just be sure to give Necro Z some credit since this is originally a challenge I'm doing from him.**

 **…**

 **3: And finally… Jaune's eventual Devil Fruit. Now I'm not going to lie. I have two major ideas on what his fruit was eventually going to be. It was either going to be a Grimm based devil fruit that made him into a Grimm-Human… more accurately a Geist Human while giving him abilities resembling Reaper from Overwatch as well as set up a parallel between Salem and Jaune's eventual duel as well as give Jaune a reason to be hesitant to go back to Remnant, knowing that he would not only be in danger but endanger his friends, family and even possibly start some kind of conspiracy war over Grimm/Human hybrids.**

 **However I decided on the other fruit… possibly one that will potentially get this story some hate on the fruit I essentially chose.**

 **The Kage-Kage no Mi/ Shadow-Shadow Fruit:**

 **Now before all of you send me death-threats in the comments… let me explain just WHY Jaune is getting the Kage-Kage no Mi over several other fruits.**

 **1: Jaune and Moria are both foils of one another:**

 **Jaune and Moria, while not strong physically are actually great tacticians. While Moria however is older, lazier and let's be honest… not all that big of a threat compared to people in the New World or how he was in his Prime, Jaune's character is a tactician, "albeit it with him actually being able to fight in this story." He still can come up with plans, has good observation and even able to pull out ideas to give him an advantage in battle.**

 **Now while Moria has fallen to rely on the Kage-Kage no Mi alone with his zombies, subordinates and others being his real means of actually fighting, Jaune (In RWBY Cannon) is similar in a sense while he is the tactician, he is unable to keep up with the likes of Ruby, Weiss and some of the other hard-hitting members of Team RWBY and JNPR. The difference is that Jaune isn't going to fully rely on the Kage-Kage no Mi to the extent Moria has but at the same time he isn't going to just ignore his abilities either.**

 **Jaune is essentially going to focus on growing his other skills as well as the Kage-Kage no Mi, using it in ways that Moria himself either stopped doing or never even did… which, brings me to number 2…**

 **…**

 **2: Jaune's actual abilities with the Kage-Kage no Mi:**

 **Like I said, Jaune isn't going to fully rely on the Kage-Kage no Mi for his overall battles, but rather it's going to be more of a support. Not only that but I already came up with five different ways Jaune is going to be able to utilize his fruit's abilities and use it to be one heck of a threat once he fully masters it to take on foes in the New World. Some ideas are…**

 **Pseudo Logia: (Kenbunshoku Haki + Kagemusha + Busoshoku Haki)**

 **Means of using his semblance on a larger scale…**

 **And what I have for a possible "Awakening" as well as his version of Gear 4** **th** **during the Time-skip. I'm not going to spoil it but let's just say that Jaune's move-set with the Kage-Kage no Mi are set and ready to go when we get to that part.**

 **Now the only bad thing about this is… well if kind of shoots One Piece Cannon out of a canon and into the sun to burn to ashes… mostly because Moria is still (Considered) to be alive in One Piece Cannon as well as his role in both Marineford and possibly down the road with Kaido. Let me just say that the Whitebeard war is going to be slightly changed up but should still be the same to many degrees.**

 **So with that… how would Jaune go about getting the Kage-Kage no Mi in the beginning? If he goes to Thriller Bark then that messes with many core events such as Brook, Kuma and other events that are important to the plot… the only other way I could think of is this happens after Thriller Bark and Jaune is forced to eat the Kage-Kage no Mi under some kind of circumstance so… I don't know… what do you guys think?**

 **With that, thoughts, comments and stuff are all appreciated and have a good one.**


	5. Huntsman and Harlequin

**Alright so a short chapter today, so like always I don't own anything and everything belongs to their respective users**

* * *

Four days have passed since Jaune "defeated" Rein Zero… and since then things have started to calm down on the small island known as Little Moss. But as all things had to begin, they also had to end as well. "You sure you need to go, Jaune" one man asked as the blond haired Rokushiki user nodded, now standing on a boat with a small smile.

"Yeah, I need to get going… can't stay here forever you know… but at least I made a few good friends here" he said as several people he befriended smiled at that. "Thanks again for everything you guys have done, I owe you-"

"Stop being so humble, kid" Forex said, standing up with Hue being his main support while still slightly injured from the bullets that went through him little under a week ago. "You helped us get rid of Zero and his men… not to mention stuck around to help clean up the mess. Helping you and giving you a bigger boat than that little rower you came here one."

"…Yeah, I appreciate that…" Jaune said before he noticed Rally looking at him with a hint of sadness in her eyes after having grown the closest to the blond.

"…You're going to be heading into the Grand Line… just be careful alright, Jaune" she said as Jaune smirked.

"Always am" he said as Rally frowned. "Never was" was more like it. He might not be completely stupid but she could say that he was a bit reckless.

"…Just don't do anything stupid out there" she said as Jaune laughed at that a bit.

"Don't worry… I'll be careful. And I'll tell you what, next time I'm in South Blue when I'm done in the Grand Line, I'll tell you some of my stories and introduce you to the others" he said as the woman smiled at that, a small blush on her face before he jumped off the ship and embraced her. "I'll see you later, Rally. Take care, alright" he said as she blushed at the sudden hug.

"R-right, alright I will… just don't die you…" she muttered while Forex smirked, trying to hold in a small laugh. Some of the others around her were no better. She really was like her mother, rouge pirate steps in, saves her and sweeps her off her feet… the only difference was Jaune didn't even know.

It was both hilarious to watch and a little sad at the same time. Still the kid did do a lot for them so either way, he was fine with it. Jumping back onto the boat, Jaune left the island, waving at the islanders that sent him off, Rally smiling with a small blush before Forex placed a hand on her shoulder.

"So… why didn't ya leave with him?" her father asked while she looked at him confused.

"Huh, what do you mean, dad?" she asked as the old man smiled.

"It's clear you wanted to go with him… you were always like me and your mother… you crave exploration and adventure… and romance." Rally froze at that last one. Romance…? What did her father mean by romance?

"For the last time dad… We Are Just Friends!" she cried out while Forex just busted out laughing. Good to see his daughter still had a bit of flair in her. "Still, are you sure… I might not be that strong compared to this Miles or Jaune… but you're sure about this?" he asked as Rally knew what he was getting at.

"…I want to set sail… but I need to get stronger first… so I need to start training myself up to match that level" she said as she kept watch on the tides that carried the soon-to-be pirate out of her sight with a smile. "I… I'm going to get stronger than Jaune was here… and when I do, then I'm going to surpass him."

"That's a milestone if I ever heard of one, Ralls… but if you're serious about this then I'm not going to hold back or slow down." Rally nodded at that while placing a hand on the blade she…eh, confiscated from one of Zero's men before smirking.

Laval D. Ralls was someone that wanted many things in life, and right now, she was going to train, so she could protect not only Little Moss but also stand next to Jaune when he needed help. That was the least she could do for the dense swordsman she fell for.

* * *

The sound of battle raged as a small bar on another island was being destroyed from the inside out. Among the competitors were a young woman with a small grin as she sat at one of the tables with a small drink in her hand, her pink and brown eyes looking at the unconscious or possibly dead bodies that spread out around her. Bounty Hunters talked big but lately they were all bark and no bite.

'A girl can't even get a drink to relax' she thought as she finished her small drink before deciding to bail. Placing the glass down, she eyed the three other fighters that were smart not to just rush or try to shoot her, it didn't even work with her abilities protecting her. Whether it be her aura or her devil fruit.

She didn't even know she ate one at first or how one even got to Remnant in the first place but her uncle did say that ever since she ate that fruit as a kid she lost her ability to talk. But if she knew about the trade off… oh boy she would have had a whole lot more fun with her fighting and her former battles.

"This bitch… she's playing with us…" one of the men said as a woman next to him snarled. It wasn't until the third person finally spoke up.

"Neopolitan… or Neo" he said as the woman perked up, Oh~ they knew her name… neat. "Known as the "Harlequin of South Blue" with an impressive fifteen-million on her head…"

Neo just kept her grin as she enjoyed when they played the bounty game. Last time it was fourteen-million. Man that guy must really hate her to place so much money on her head. Wondered when it was going to eventually pass the twenty-million mark.

"Still… for what she did…" the one man said as the woman nodded.

"To go up and steal from the Panda Family and take down fifty men effortlessly" she said as Neo remembered that. Apparently some higher-up in the underworld got pissed because he lost a few million belli as it was call here. She might not have known where "Here" actually was but she knew one thing…

…This wasn't Remnant…

Neo would admit that she had a panic attack when she first arrived on that one island… had one hell of a tantrum at that considering she swore she wiped out an entire island worth of animals. On one hand, she had no idea what happened, where she was or even how she could have gotten back… on the other hand, she was able to relieve some stress by not only killing some animals but by using her new abilities at that…

Maimu-Maimu no Mi as she called it… the fruit that gives one the abilities of a mime… well while not her best choice of abilities, she could make it work. The invisible walls were nice, able to make blades and guns out of thin air was a plus… she just wish she could actually talk or swim. Still there was one thing she absolutely hated about this situation…

…Those two…

* * *

 _Back on Remnant, a younger Neo was busy trying to think about just what happened in the last few days. Everything was going well enough until that little brat and her team interfered with them… again. Now not only did their plan fail because of those annoying hormone-filled brats but Roman was going to be getting the blame from both the general and the bitch that she was forced to call boss._

 _Let it be known that Neopolitan Torchwick did not favor Cinder Fall, having been adopted by the crime-boss that was forced to be under employment for the huntress. Now here she was, alone… without the only person she could actually say she liked, while having to play a part in her little games…_

 _The only good thing about this was that she got to get into some fighting in this upcoming tournament. Cinder had sent her a message that stated she was going to be their fourth member while at the same time act as a means of taking down certain… let's call them "Threats to the Plan" and leave it at that._

 _Now while Neo might have enjoyed a good beating… and she did, she really did, she wasn't exactly happy or excited to what Cinder had planed for Vale… much less with the White Fang._

 _She saw through the truth, the Fang were much more valuable to her than Roman was… but she was currently more valuable than they were. But she wondered just how long that was going to be until she and her uncle were… no longer needed._

 _Well… maybe it was a good side to this after all. Now she could "Acidently" hurt one of those brats or the one's they were close to in the first round if she was lucky enough to face them… she wouldn't have minded making that silver-eyed brat or that annoying blond have a few missing teeth._

 _Nothing life-threatening… unfortunately…_

 _"_ _For someone so quiet, you are rather loud when you want to be" a voice said, interrupting her from her thoughts before she turned around and saw a woman wearing a black cloak with the hood up, her eyes meeting the assassin's glance that narrowed into a glare. Now just who was this woman._

 _"_ _Neo… a huntress under employment by the crime-boss Roman Torchwick" she said as Neo's expression changed to a small glare. "Forced to work for a maiden named Cinder Fall and her duo of brats… nothing but a means to an end… just like she herself is to another" she continued, this time catching Neo slightly offguard. Did she say that… Cinder was being used herself?_

 _"_ _Meanwhile here we are, while she's playing her little role of pawn in the queen's and the wizard's game of chess… but I'm getting off track here… I'll start over. My name is Marble… and this is my associate… you may call him Mr. R" she said before Neo was confused… associate? What associate-_

 _"_ _Yo" a voice called out lazily behind her as she jumped away and eyed the newcomer that wore a similar black cloak with his hands in his pockets… when did he show up? She didn't even sense him at all!_

 _"_ _Going back to the reason we're here… we would like you to tell us about yourself" she said clearly while Neo and Mr. R just gave her a dead-panned expression, clearly not impressed._

 _"…"_

 _"…_ _Um, Marble…" Mr. R happily reminded that the person they were confronting actually couldn't talk at all._

 _"…_ _Oh, right… put this on" she said as she tossed a ring to Neo, who caught it in confusion before inspecting it. It was a simple ring, one that seemed to be made out of stone. How would this help her "Communicate" with them. Still, she might as well play along for now; she was already prepping an illusion to escape. Placing the ring on her finger, she froze as her illusion shattered and she suddenly felt exhausted._

 _'_ _What? What's happening…?' Neo thought to herself as she tried to stay up straight as Marble began to speak once more._

 _"_ _That is a ring of sea-stone… it nullifies devil fruit abilities" she said as Neo glared._

 _"…_ _You… what is that?!" she screamed, making her frown before she went to remove the ring before Mr. R grabbed her hand with a sigh._

 _"_ _You can talk, can't you?" he asked as Neo frowned she couldn't talk…_

 _"…_ _Idiot…" she muttered annoyed as Mr. R smiled._

 _"_ _And yet you just did" he said happily while Neo blinked, muttering some words before looking at her own hands in shock, the ring more specifically. How was this possible? For years she tried anything to regain her voice and now she could talk so-_

 _"_ _As I said, that is a sea-stone ring. It allows one to nullify one's devil fruit which you do have… which I should probably warn you that eating another one would kill you" he said as Neo narrowed her eyes._

 _"…_ _How do you know about that… just who the hell are you two anyways?" she asked as she readied her weapon while Mr. R decided to talk to her, try to calm her down because the last time they were going to send someone somewhere else… he regretted not being there with his sister when she did so…_

 _"_ _Right… you may call me, Mr. R… and that is my associate, Marble. We are here to-"_

 _*Poof*_

 _No one said anything as Mr. R just gawked at his partner as she instantly made the young huntress/assassin disappear and sent her to South Blue… in the middle of introducing themselves. "…June, why did you-"_

 _"_ _This was taking too long. She isn't one for long goodbyes…" Marble said as Mr. R just looked at her before sighing, clearly seeing just why his sister was sensitive about the subject._

 _"…_ _I'll handle Torchwick then… you'll be alright?" he asked, slightly unsure as his partner turned back and nodded, disappearing to her own business while Mr. R left with a sigh, clearly feeling far older than he was._

* * *

Back in the present, Neo just walked out of the deserted bar, the last three men unconscious as she decided to head to another island. Before she could go much farther, she noticed a group of posters… one of them were hers. She had some sense of pride as it showed her good side, her smiling at the camera with a signature grin with her left eye pink and her right eye brown, similar to her hair that was flowing freely down to her mid-back.

As she wore a simpler version of her former attire, a white sleeveless shirt with her emblem embroidered on the front and a pale coat to match. Black pants and white boots with steel tips and her umbrella resting on her shoulder.

…Truly worth the fifteen-million Belli…

Beside it were other posters with multiple bounties around hers, most of them were smaller while the other ones were only about a hundred or two higher than hers. Three of them had what was referred to as the "Panda Mark" on the corner, signifying that they were wanted by the Panda Family, not necessarily criminals by the government but as a means to demoralize those that angered the higher up in the underworld.

And lo and behold, there actually was a new one, she enjoyed that to some degree, not only was there someone out there giving trouble to the little annoyances but there was someone to help take some of the heat off of her. So who was the poor sucker that pissed off the mafia… just what did he end up doing?

"…"

Wait… she must have misread that… Scanning the information and the picture once again, she felt something go through her that she couldn't place her finger one… interest, alarm… shock… excitement?

The picture was of a blond haired man with blue eyes, looking over at the camera with some different clothing than she personally preferred. But it was the reason and the name that caught her interest…

Wanted: Dead or Alive

Huntsman: Jaune

20,000,000

Neo scanned the poster, even taking it off the wall and ignoring the protests. "Huntsman" as they called him and it wasn't just that… she swore she at least heard of the guy before… back in Remnant. She didn't know how or why but she wasn't alone. Thoughts went through her head. Was he really from Remnant, how did he get here, did he know a way back…

There was also a question that if he was really that strong, would he be making for a fun little play-mate? The last interesting and honestly "Good" fight she had been with that blond girl on the train three years ago… maybe she would find him and have a little fun…

* * *

Jaune could say that the island was different than the last two islands he had been to so far, while Dusk Island was filled with danger from the local wildlife that wanted to kill you, Little Moss was a calming island that actually had a means of peace, a peace that it eventually took the young swordsman to get used to but a peace none-the-less…

Then the next training session from Miles would outright ruin said peace before he just stopped caring all-together. But this place clearly seemed off somehow, as if the very island itself was leaning towards uninviting. Shrugging his shoulders, Jaune just headed into town while hoping to spend some time and get back to the road. He was still a ways off from being ready for the Grand Line and until then he was going to do everything he could to just more or less enjoy himself.

The town was bigger than the one Rein Zero ruled over before he helped with the small reconstruction, happy enough that he wasn't in trouble for property damage on that one guys house. Still while it was a bigger town, he frowned at the actual energy in it. Little Moss, while being under the Panda's threat was still a bit more welcoming than Palma Island's Coconut Town.

The reason was surprisingly the people itself, more to the point… the marines.

They were everywhere…

It seemed packed filled with them and looking at the edge of town, Jaune could see why, a large building as big as a mansion loomed over the village, the marines occupying it with the giant flag they waved and the swordsman just sweat-dropped. It was a bit… overkill to say the least.

Walking towards the square, he froze when he heard what sounded like a fight going on, seeing a crowd, Jaune seemed interested enough, his hands resting either in his pants pocket or resting on his broad sword, one that made him remember his former weapon… Crocea Mors. Honestly he was kicking himself in the butt for that one… Miles had to give him a new sword just so he could set out… as if the loan, boat and the other stuff wasn't enough. Still, he could only hope that the family blade and shield made it back home…

…Great, he was acting if he died or something… but he wouldn't blame them for thinking that-

*Smack*

The young knight's attention was immediately drawn to the sounds of the fight as he saw a man, possibly around his age or a fair bit older, now on the ground while bleeding from his mouth. "Now, is that any way for you to thank me for helping you?" a voice said that made Jaune immediately remember the executive. Looking at the owner of the voice, he hesitated when he saw who it was.

A marine, a marine with a hat and no coat… if Jaune was to make a guess… he was probably either lower-rank… or Grunt as Miles put it ever so bluntly… or a higher rank that didn't bother with the dress code. Either way, it was clear that he was eager to fight and with several more marines behind him, Jaune begrudgingly watched, seeing how this would play out…

He had no desire to get involved in something like this… with Rally it was a young woman that was being mugged and possibly worse… he didn't know if he was a criminal and the marines were doing their job… albeit an extreme and unnecessary way… and worse, if Jaune interfered then he could have made an enemy out of the government and the islanders.

As he saw the marine pick the man up from the shirt collar and looked at him in the eye, Jaune was honestly impressed that the man had the balls to spit a mix of spit and blood on the marines face before the marine decided to pay him back with a fist in his. As the man fell down on the ground, the marine just spat at him before turning around. "You aren't made for the marines, Koruja… never show your face to us again" the marine said as the others smirked and followed the man as the crowd looked on in horror.

As the soon decided to return to their lives, Jaune stopped a woman with a curious expression. "Hey, um… what exactly was that?" Jaune asked as the woman blinked before judging him. After a moment, she sighed.

"You aren't from Palma Island… aren't you?" she asked as Jaune nodded with a more cautious aura around him as the woman frowned. "That boy… his name is Koruja… he was a marine… and one of the last real ones at that…" she said with a bit of venom, making Jaune curious. Seeing the injured man get up, Jaune was about to help him before he felt a hand on his shoulder. "I know you mean well… but you need to understand that Koruja… he left the marines and they took that as an insult…"

"And they beat the hell out of him?" Jaune asked with crossed arms and a quirked eyebrow. Man if that's what you get for quitting the marines then they were worse than what he heard about Atlas. And from some of the things he actually heard within Beacon as well as seeing some of the students boast about their skills before the tournament… yeah.

It seemed harsh though, what made him leave in the first place…?

"Say, you said you're not from here, right… for your own good, make whatever business here you have quick and don't pick a fight with the marines… they can be… forceful" she said with venom as Jaune knew that the threat wasn't exactly for him per say… but a warning of the marines. So far this was starting to remind him of Little Moss Island all over again. Still, while he would have loved to help them… and if this really was Little Moss over again then he would, he needed to know more about the marines here than what he already did.

"…Hey, miss… one more question" Jaune called out to her as she turned to him one more time. "I… well; do you know where I can find an inn or something for the night?" Jaune asked as the woman blinked. Pointing towards one of the buildings, the woman said nothing while Jaune nodded and took off in hopes not having to camp out tonight.

* * *

At one of the inns, a man with gray hair just stared at the young woman before him with a look best summed up as, "You want me to what?" as the woman merely tried to put on her most innocent look she could… something he knew well enough was just more or less a ruse. Eventually however, he just gave in.

"Fine… I'll give you a fifty percent discount… but just for today" he said as the woman silently smirked, mentally pumping her arms as she was given her treat at half-off. This was why she loved the bar as much as she did. Good service, good food and best of all good prices… well for her anyways.

"Here… just have this on the house until it's ready, I know how impatient you can be, Neo" the old man said as Neo just rolled her eyes at him. Being twenty-three years of age while sometimes acting like a teenager. Hey it could get results… but while she was handed a drink while she waited for her dairy treat, she decided to get down to business.

"I think I found a lead" she admitted as the man froze for a moment and turned to her in minor shock, she… found a lead on Remnant?

"You sure… I mean, you said that it was probably in some other world or something" he said as the things he heard about that place was probably things you'd find in the Grand Line. Neo however nodded silently, sipping off of her drink as the liquor and the ice met both her lips and throat. Honestly she might not have drunk that much but in Palma Town, as a criminal and dealing with the type of marines here… she had to be a little buzzed just to avoid the headaches that they caused.

Marines here were thugs… thugs in a uniform that were not much better than the henchmen from that one bar… or the panda grunts she personally tore apart. Hell at least the few marines outside this island were… decent. Goody two-shoes but decent none-the-less… Still, that did raise some questions of her own, to be answered.

Pulling out a poster, she placed it on the table. "This man… he's from Remnant" she said as the man was interested. He already knew what kind of monster Neopolitan Torchwick was so he shuddered to think what another was like. Picking up the poster, he seemed interested. The man was clearly interesting enough. Blond hair and blue eyes… brown clothes and a sword on his wrist… but what surprised him was the bounty.

"What on earth did he do to get a higher bounty than you?" he asked bluntly and to no one in particular as Neo shrugged. She didn't know or really care but she'd ask him if he was conscious after she first had a little fun with him first. She wanted a good crack at him if he truly was a huntsman.

"Hey, Bartender!" a man shouted as Ryos pales slightly and Neo froze a bit at the loud voice. Soon she was interrupted as two marines sat down next to the assassin and smirked. "Give us a few rounds on the tab… hurry it up to. We're thirsty men wanting to be rewarded for our deeds" one of them said as Neo fought the urge to roll her eyes.

Rewards… for their deeds… oh if she could she would reward them with her boot shoved up their-

"Yeah, we're having a night on the town… We're going big and never going home!" the other one cheered as Neo continued her thoughts.

To remove their stick from their mouths that they had up the since possible birth… before taking that stick and beating them-

"Right… give me a moment…" Ryos muttered to himself.

'With a god-damned pig…' Neo finished darkly with a small smirk before she noticed an arm slung around her by one of the marines and twitched at the contact.

"So, what's your name, babe?" he asked with a smug grin while Neo tried to remain calm… trying to think less murderous thoughts… not to make a scene in one of the only places she could say she liked on Palma Island.

"…Neo…" she said bluntly as the marine just smirked.

"Exotic… well how about you and me take a little one on one cruse out at sea… and if you're interested… I'll let you steer my ship… if you know what I mean" he said in a husky tone while Ryos froze, Neo froze, the other man smirked before Neo suddenly smirked. Ryos froze, already knowing how this was going to end.

"Sail your ship… my… I just love a man with such… boldness. I'd love to after I inspect it… but even from here… I can tell…" she said huskily enough as she extended her hand low to his legs before in a swift movement, crushed his sensitive area mercilessly. "That it's already sunk…" she finished dryly.

The screaming man was in pain and effortlessly the woman side-stepped around him before bringing his head that she caught in her hand and slamming it through the table next to her. The other marine, shocked at the actions, got up and pulled out a sword.

"You bitch, who do you think you are-" he started before Neo just avoided the blade and threw him out of the bar with some aura-enhanced strength.

"What the fuck!" she heard a different voice call out before a moment later, she smirked playfully as the marine got back up and ran back in after her with three or so more marines… and some other person she didn't care about.

Meanwhile, Jaune was busy heading to the bar, wanting to get something to drink and calm his nerves. He didn't know why but that earlier scene just annoyed him. Maybe something like a small whisky or gin could help him out-

*Crash*

"What the fuck!" Jaune cried out in alarm as a marine was sent out of the bar from some kind of… he didn't know… but he figured he would soon when the marine got back up and went back in there while he was joined by four others. Jaune, shrugging it off, just snuck in behind them and decided to see what the commotion was about.

Entering the place, he made his way to the counter, using Soru to reach the table without getting into the fight as he noticed a woman a bit shorter than him, taunting the marines into a fight. He didn't know who she was but he would admit that she had some sense of power about her… it actually felt like… wait. No way…

She had aura… now that he got a good look at her, he tried to remember where he heard about her before… soon a memory was sparked and his eyes widened a bit. Now he remembered… her name was… but that was ridiculous… the odds of-

"Neo… can't you take this outside…" he barely heard the man say as Jaune froze. Neo… as in Torchwick's subordinate that could easily kick Yang's ass three years ago… Jaune was a bit nervous as he remembered just how she kicked Yang's ass… or from what he was told about her anyways. Neo… played with her opponents, using some kind of counter attacks and aerodynamic Aikido or something. Safe to say he was getting what he wanted…

She was playful, she was graceful… she was silent… fuck him, she was Torchwick's follower. And one question came to his mind. Just how the heck did she even get here?!

"You alright…?" Ryos asked him as Jaune regained his composure and nodded, missing the widening eyes of the older man and his attempt to take something from the table. "Eh, right… what can I get for you…" he asked as Jaune didn't miss the slight and clear uncomfortable tone.

"…Got anything light…?" he asked the older man while keeping his haki up behind him as the woman having a bit of fun behind him. Soon he was given a glass of water, Jaune raising an eyebrow, was met with a shrug before he just accepted it. Well it beat nothing-

"What the hell is going on in here?!" another marine from the doorway appeared as Neo just smiled, the other ones were starting to bore her by this point.

"So… you from around here…?" Ryos asked while already knowing the answer while Jaune just smiled.

"…Something, like that, I'm actually just got here around three years ago" he admitted with a small laugh as Ryos froze. Three years ago… so was he really like Neo then-

"Oh god, make her stop" one of the marines called out before the sound of her boots meeting his head was heard as an echo throughout the bar as Jaune frowned.

"She's violent… so… what's up with that?" Jaune asked bluntly as Ryos frowned.

"Apparently one of the marines tried to… sexually persuade her" he said emotionlessly as Jaune nearly did a spit take and choked on the water before looking at him in disbelief.

"You mean one of those guys tried to… Are they suicidal…?" Jaune nearly shouted as he was ignored by the others when Neo grabbed a barstool and bashed one of the marines with it.

"Yeah, probably… her being a huntress and stuff" Ryos said for bait while Jaune took it easily enough.

"Yeah… I mean I knew people were stupid… but someone like Neo…" Jaune muttered as Ryos smirked.

"You know her or something?" he asked, trying to get more answers out of him while Jaune frowned.

"…Know of her really… she tried to kill a friend of mine after they interfered with her apparent bosses schemes" he answered with narrowed eyes as Ryos was slightly caught off guard. "How do you know her…? I mean you know her name?" Jaune asked as Ryos frowned. However if he was anything like Neo…

"…I found her three years ago… she became a regular here… that a problem?" he asked as Jaune shrugged.

"Just as long as she doesn't try to pick a fight with me or my friends… I'm surprised she isn't honestly a criminal… or is she…" he asked as Ryos frowned.

"That's hypocritical brat…" Ryos said before pulling out a bounty on Jaune's head. His poster revealing itself and its information to the man in question, who in turned gawked at it in disbelief, taking it from the man and studying it.

"…Huntsman… twenty-million… alright I mean, what the heck. I didn't even do anything… I didn't even kill anyone so how is it this high!" Jaune complained as Ryos shrugged.

"You got it from passion of the Panda Family, Neo got one herself. She took down and killed fifty men… so what the hell did you do?" Ryos asked as Jaune frowned.

"…I… might have kicked the butt of one of the executives…" he admitted shyly as Ryos took his turn to gawk. No way, this kid took down an executive! And what's worse was Neo wanted to fight this guy?

"Please… have mercy…" one marine said before Neo jumped on the wall and elbowed him in the gut, much to the marine's extra-added misery. Clapping her hands and dusting them off, she smiled proudly at the brutal display of her "fight" before joining Ryos… and Jaune unknowingly back in her seat.

"Well… that was annoying" she said as Jaune froze… did she just talk? Yang said she was some kind of mute… but this was still Neo alright. He could feel her aura from where he sat next to her while she herself noticed Ryos looking at her nervously. "What…?" she asked out as Ryos spoke up, Jaune staying quiet.

"So that lead… you sure this guy isn't just stranded here like you are?" he asked as Neo frowned.

"…Don't know… but if he knows anything then I'm going to get answers out of him" she said as Jaune felt a bit nervous, not fully sure he could take her. She took down Yang three years ago and he didn't know how much stronger she got since then.

"You said you were ambushed by that Marble woman… and that Mr. R guy, right?" Ryos asked as Jaune froze. Wait, did he just say Marble? He never met a Mr. R before but Marble was someone he remembered clearly…

She was the one who sent him here after all… did she also send Neo here as well.

"…Yes… I was. And after Roman got arrested I don't even know if he's alright…" she admitted as Jaune paid attention.

"He was your boss?" Ryos asked as Neo frowned.

"He… he was my uncle. He took me in as his own, gave me a place by his side… and now I don't even know if he's even alive! That bitch could have killed him already and here I am just sucking my thumb and doing nothing." Neo clearly was sensitive about that but he didn't know that Roman Torchwick meant that much.

"… What do you mean…" Jaune muttered while Neo finally noticed his presence.

"None of your business, like you know what I'm going through" Neo accused before glaring annoyingly at Jaune while his blue eyes met her pink and brown ones.

"To some extent… Neo…" Jaune said on guard as Neo slowly recognized the man before her. "I lost my family… my friends… my dream… so to that degree… we're the same."

"…You're…" she muttered before getting up and grabbing him by the shirt. "You're that kid… the Huntsman"

"…The name's Jaune… " he said as Neo narrowed her gaze on him. Was he being a smartass? "That being said… we need to have a talk…"

* * *

At the castle above the small town, a larger man frowned as he lost yet another marine due to his worthless point of view, not that he didn't blame him however… He was weak and soft while they needed to be hard and unrelenting. Boshu was a practical follower of "Absolute Justice" and vowed he would see it through to both himself and his men. That being said, it saddened him that some of his men… weren't quite up to snuff.

"We keep losing men… isn't there anyone from that old division that's worth calling a marine?" he complained as behind him, came his second in command.

"Perhaps not… " he said as Boshu snarled at that. Those spineless bastards really became marines here. They didn't have the guts or nerves to be called marines, much less sea men of the World Government…

"My father was a marine… and so was his father… they were the best of the best… followers of Absolute Justice… and do you know why they were the best… it's because they got the job done… they were the ones that put justice above their personal feelings." Boshu smiled at that, his family… they were unsung heroes of the marines… but soon enough, they were seen in a more horrible light. Their methods started to become questionable in the eyes of the public…

The public that needed to be watched and reminded who kept the peace… It was the marines that kept them in line and once this pirate craze started the marines have been… too lax. The Shichibukai…? The new Fleet Admiral… Hell he actually supported Sengoku after the Ohara incident. It was the perfect example of justice.

But now he grew old… soft… he was no longer the fleet admiral that needed to lead the marines. Akainu was the best choice for when Sengoku stepped down. And when he performed his duty… he would rise beyond his rank as captain…

He would become Vice-Admiral… then Admiral… then soon enough… Fleet Admiral until he would influence Absolute Justice to the world.

"Captain… we have a call from one of our solders… apparently, well…" the second in command said as Boshu frowned. What…? Was their some kind of issue on his territory… on his island?

"What's the issue, Yen…" he demanded as Yen just held out two posters.

"According to our scouts… a woman identified as the Harlequin: Neo. Started a fight in a local bar… and with her claims that another man confirmed to be the Huntsman: Jaune was with her…"

"…Together… are they planning a riot… those filthy pirate scum had made one mistake they'll regret" Boshu muttered as he headed out to deal with the criminals… it was a good day to be a marine. Now he would show the sheep what happened when rowdy sheep need to be slaughtered. Yen merely followed his captain out while preparing to fight himself.

* * *

Ryos said nothing as Jaune jumped back outside with narrowed eyes and his sword drawn while Neo soon joined him with her own weapon pulled. He was honestly a bit nervous about the situation as they both immediately went for their weapons without much talking.

Neo was rather excited about the lucky meeting, having gotten a bit loosened up from the small brawl with the marines before she could take on the swordsman before her. Jaune however just sighed. He could easily tell that this was going to be different than his battle with the grunts and Rein Zero… meanwhile thus was going to be different than with his spars with Miles…

Neo was a woman that enjoyed fighting with a sadistic nature… and she was going to enjoy this far more than he was…

Before he could even ask her anything however, he was forced to defend himself from a strike aimed for his head and using his sword, parried the slimmer blade that was enhanced with aura. That would have probably killed him if he didn't see it coming with his haki… Neo however held her hand in a similar fashion to holding another blade, making Jaune activate Tekkai, taking another attack as she tried to impale him… or at least damage his aura.

Seeing as she was unable to do some damage with that blow, she kept on the offense, stepping in to push him back as Jaune slid back a bit while she soon jumped over him and Jaune disappeared before she could spin around and deliver a blow in his blind spot. Appearing before her, he immediately sent a wave of green energy from his blade, Neo blocking it with her arms crossed and an annoyed expression plastered on her face.

Once the green wave of energy faded, she was met with a hand grabbing her and repelling her into a building. What… just happened.

Jaune smirked as he held his left hand out with a smirk, he enjoyed using Gepo: Pāmu when he fought… it was a means to startle the enemy… and a means to get some distance while staying grounded. Soon enough however, he was forced to use his Tekkai again, having felt something hit him at high speeds, Neo herself was eyeing him with a glare.

And seemingly shooting some invisible gun… wait, how does she have an invisible gun? Or that invisible sword she tried to stab him with… well it didn't matter on thinking about that when he was currently trying to escape the range of these bullets or whatever she was using. Feeling the barrage stop however, he was forced to dodge rushing blade that resembled Weiss's fencing with her umbrella.

Neo was however curious, she added her aura with her bullets… he should be nearly out of steam soon enough. Jumping away and spinning around, she soon landed on her feet and went for a kick aimed at his head… one that Jaune caught. He felt the blow to his aura before he smirked and threw he to the ground and with his open hand, aimed to deal a blow to her head, fingered extended for a Shigan: Yari

Neo grimaced at the counter before she felt something hit her head hard, taking some aura out of her reserves as Jaune pinned her down. "Alright… you done?" he asked before she glared before she grinned slightly, looking at her hand while Jaune himself was confused before his Haki immediately gave him the answer… that bit-

There was no sound but Neo did use her powers to make a lit bomb and as the area around them were blown to bits, Ryos just took covered behind the counter as the front of his bar was destroyed. Jaune was thrown through a building while Neo was in pain, feeling her aura barely being usable to fight, she was in the yellow… if not nearing the red zone while wanting to end the fight quickly.

"…Did… did you just… use a freaking bomb… what the hell is wrong with you!" Jaune demanded seconds later as he walked out of the destroyed building as Neo frowned, feeling the effects of her own weapon, at least it did it's job and wounded the Arc's aura supply. Jaune narrowed his eyes as she just got up and glared while he felt that blow take down well around ten or twenty percent of his aura levels…

…It was time to end it…

Noticing his sword by her feet, something he was glad she didn't notice, he just took a calming breath and glowed white, making her drop her weapon and make a gun, trying to shoot him, only for him to dive under the wall and keep running. Alright, what the heck was her semblance! Ruby and the others told him that she could seemingly make illusions or something. So unless that was Roman's semblance or one illusion… one very realistic illusion that could actually blow him several feet through a house… then he was calling hacks!

Seriously… might as well be some kind of devil fruit or something then. …Wait…

"Yes or no… you ate a devil fruit… didn't you?" Jaune asked out loud with no emotion behind his voice as Neo, who just entered the house, shrugged her shoulders uncaringly while aiming her "Gun" at Jaune before he tackled her with a Soru before grabbing her hands before she spat in his face. Before he could interrogate her however…

"Freeze!" a voice called out as Jaune and Neo both noticed that there were four marines and one of them before the four grunts who observed the scene with interest. "…Is this a bad time? If it is, I can allow you to finish your… private talk" the marine said as Jaune and Neo blinked before noticing their position.

Jaune was basically straddling her by this point, fingers and hands interlocked as both were panting from their fight, sweaty and… oh dear god no.

"I… We aren't… We were fighting!" Jaune cried out in denial with his face completely red as Neo blushed slightly before a small smirk formed on her face. "Go on… say something!" Jaune said, hoping that the criminal that tried to kill him would at least try to set the marines straight… she did the exact opposite she managed to get a hand free and grabbed the back of his head, pulling him into a "Passionate Kiss."

The Marines just gawked at the sight while Jaune let go of her other hand. What the hell! He asked her to help deny their accusations and she might as well confirm them. He didn't realize however he let go of her other hand… or really kept her pinned after that. Taking the advantage, he was head-butted off of her while she got up. Getting up himself, he barely had time to defend himself when she kicked him through another wall.

Seriously, what was with her? The invisible weapons, the kiss the silent treatment throughout the entire fight… She spoke before so what was with her not even making a sound during their fight… speaking of which… the gun shots were silent… the explosion was silent…

Everything about her was silent. And if her semblance was illusions like Yang said… then the only real reason was…

…The whole thing made no sense to him…

"You done?" one marine asked as Neo was satisfied with the last blow before nodding. Using the last bit of her aura, she jumped back out the door, landing right on Jaune and back-flipping from him before placing an illusion and running. Jaune got up and soon heard the sound of shattering before looking behind him and then to the left, seeing her running to fight another day…

'Did… did she just run?' Jaune thought to himself before he felt his head being shot with a bullet… and unlike her "weapons" he actually heard it as well. Turning to the marines… he understood just what she did. 'You got to be kidding… figures she would abandon their fight and leave him with the marines.'

"So… any last words, kid" one of the marines spoke up while Jaune said nothing before sighing.

"…Yeah" he said as he slowly walked before using Soru to flee, leaving the scene and the marines to stare silently at the spot the blond haired swordsman once was.

* * *

 **Alright, so cut here and there we have a means to try to bring in Neo. Now I am going to be doing that running gag with some other woman sparking close feelings to Jaune but him not really knowing it and mistaking it for being nice. I actually have an omake up for that regarding Pyrrha and maybe some of the other shipping… but I digress.**

 **Next is Rally. This might not be the last time we see her but I will say this… I have her based off of Joan of Arc but I'll leave that for people to figure that out on their own point is that she isn't going to be joining the crew but will be playing a role later on.**

 **I'm glad you all like the idea of Jaune getting the Kage-Kage no Mi, one of you even suggesting I give him a similar one that is the similar opposite of the Kage-Kage no Mi called the Shade-Shade Fruit. Meaning that while Jaune can't influence the shadows of living beings the shadows of non-living beings were fair game.**

 **Now originally, Jaune's epithet was going to be "Silver Blade" but after realizing Jaune never used his sword, I needed to think of a different one. So to follow the name of the story and as a means to poke fun at the irony of it… Jaune is now the "Huntsman" of South Blue.**

 **Now we really don't know much about Neo's past with Roman other than the fact that she and him had a pseudo father-daughter relationship and that if she didn't look up to Torchwick as much as she did then she would have been a whole lot more dangerous.**

 **Since we don't know much about her other than her seemingly fighting other than she's a stab-happy sociopath and would enjoy beating the hell and killing people… I'm going to mix her personality a bit with her "RWBY Chibi" self. She'll be witty, charismatic, playful and generally somewhat kind to people that she likes but at the same time battle-hungry, slightly psychopathic and cruel when she fights enemies…**

 **And like always, advice… thoughts… criticism and other is welcomed. Until then, have a good one.**


	6. Let's Suffer Together

**And here we go, Chapter whatever we're on… eight I think and now I own nothing but myself and RWBY and One Piece belong to their respective owners and so on. Well I'm going to try to update the next chapter hopefully by next Tuesday if I'm lucky so until then, I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

The slow sounds of footsteps on the sand were heard as Jaune walked towards his boat with a annoyed expression on his face. So far this turned out even worse than Little Moss and Rein Zero. Now that wasn't to say he preferred dealing with the executive but at least he managed to befriend someone there, here he felt like public enemy number one.

The marines were looking for him, the townspeople probably didn't like the fact he and Neo took down and destroyed a good section of the town in their little spat… oh, and Neo herself apparently was going to try to kill him once she recovered… so that was a thing. Resting his head on his palm, he just fell down, cross-legged while trying to think of what to do.

If he was smart, he would either hide somewhere on the island or just leave out-right. The issues with that were he could be found if he didn't hide well enough and who was to say that they wouldn't surround the island by that point. He'd have to not only fight the marines but most-likely the freaking assassin in what would probably be round two.

And that was probably after he was forced to deal with the marines… and he didn't really like them here either. He did some digging and asking around, and the marines here were just like Miles had told him. Absolute Justice… it was too extreme… though he could see some meaning behind their drive, when would they stop being the ones in the right and the ones in the wrong…

There were several examples of this… The White Lead Disease… The Buster Call… even Ohara… Jaune shook in a silent rage hearing about that little bit… Shaking his head, he knew there was nothing he could actually do about it now. Then again, things still didn't make sense. His mind more focused on his opponent.

Looking down at the umbrella in his hand, he frowned at the memories of having to go back and get his sword back… picking up her main weapon was honestly just something on a whim. At least he didn't need to worry about her using this against him… he thought about just chucking it in the sea… He however did wonder how she even got to South Blue in the first place.

 _"_ _You said you were ambushed by that Marble woman… and that Mr. R guy, right?" Ryos asked as Jaune froze. Wait, did he just say Marble? He never met a Mr. R before but Marble was someone he remembered clearly…_

 _She was the one who sent him here after all… did she also send Neo here as well._

 _"_ _Yes I was. And after Roman got arrested I don't even know if he's alright…" she admitted as Jaune paid attention._

 _"_ _He was your boss?" Ryos asked as Neo frowned._

 _"_ _He… he was my uncle. He took me in as his own, gave me a place by his side… and now I don't even know if he's even alive! That bitch could have killed him already and here I am just sucking my thumb and doing nothing." Neo clearly was sensitive about that but he didn't know that Roman Torchwick meant that much._

 _"…_ _What do you mean" Jaune muttered while Neo finally noticed his presence._

Jaune was confused. What did she mean by "That Bitch" because unless she meant it like someone from Team RWBY or Atlas… then it made no sense. Come to think about it, what did they even have to gain in this, filling Vale with Grimm, he was told that Torchwick was a criminal and while Neo might have been alright with the chaos… was Torchwick really like that.

He just moaned, what was wrong with him, why was he thinking about this. Torchwick and Neo… but despite everything, despite how he tried to make sense of it all… he knew in the bottom of his heart that something was wrong.

Neo… she had answers to this, and if she could make him try to talk then so could he…

 _"_ _So that lead… you sure this guy isn't just stranded here like you are?" he asked as Neo frowned._

 _"_ _Don't know but if he knows anything then I'm going to get answers out of him" she said as Jaune felt a bit nervous._

Then again, the way Ryos made it sound was she was a victim in this too, and if that was the case… Great, now he needed something heavier… so while strolling through the town now-filled with people trying to kill him, why not head to the place where the assassin was to get wasted and become easy prey to her and the grunts of the government… as Miles called them.

Well at least he'd be getting something out of this…

* * *

Neo frowned, nursing her wounds as she sat down at one of the backrooms that Ryos allowed her to hide in and contemplate… or in his words mope, about the events that happened. How the heck did she lose…?

No, better yet how the heck did she allow herself to become so weak? What happened to the huntress that could make people bend and break over her knee, the one that people spoke about in actual fear as she playfully looked at them, the one who could take on huntsmen and huntresses toe-to-toe and put up a great fight…

Had she really grown this rusty? Thinking about it, she never really did have a means to test herself, it was always grunts, drunks, or people who honestly just annoyed her. She thought she was growing stronger when she incorporated her newly awakened abilities of the Maimu-Maimu no Mi into her fighting but here she was, sitting down and healing after a fight from another huntsman. And that wasn't the kicker…

Jaune Arc… Jaune Fucking Arc was the person she tied with… no.

Their fight was interrupted and she chose to make a tactical retreat. But the fact that in three years… the weakest huntsman in training… no, the weakest civilian attending Beacon… could prove a means to fight her evenly… too many questions filled her head.

How did he become this strong, how long was he here for, just what was going on back home… and to make matters worse… she didn't even know how much stronger the others back in Vale got. She didn't care about the other brats but Cinder and her two lackeys. They could have gotten much stronger by now, maybe even stronger than Raven Branwen or someone like Ozpin

But that wasn't the point, the point was how was it she allowed herself to become so… so…

Pathetic…

Weak…

Worthless…

Slamming her fist on the table, no longer using her aura for enhanced strength but rather to focus on healing… she frowned. What's more was she fought so sloppily… she didn't even get him to use his semblance… unless he did and she didn't even know about it. He could take her bullets and could predict her weapons and movements… was that his semblance or basic aura training…

Even she could predict movements; anyone with aura could predict movements if they trained hard enough… but it became so clear to her… to the point of seeing into the future at some points. She knew part of that was thanks to her fruit ability… but then there was what they called haki.

Did that guy… awaken his haki as well?

*Slam*

"You done brooding yet?" Ryos asked as Neo glared at him while he seemed unaffected by her rather intimidating stature… he never did fear her, she often wondered why though.

"…Why" she muttered as she balled her hand into a fist, clearly disturbed at the results. "I became too weak, I couldn't hold my own against someone like Arc… the so-called weakest when I could decimate one of the considered strongest brats in Beacon in the same year."

Her rant was interrupted when she heard the sound of a bowl being placed next to her, looking at it, she noticed it was her former order… the ice-cream that she was denied had been given to her with a spoon etched in the soft-cold delicacy.

"Look, you challenged the guy, and you tied-"

"I lost…" she muttered bluntly as Ryos ignored her.

"I told you there were always people stronger than you… and while you were searching for a way home and practicing your skills, who's to say that kid hadn't done the same. Thinking about it, I wouldn't be surprised if he was trained by someone."

Trained by someone… does that mean he was being tutored while she struggled mostly on her own. Well… if that was the case she felt a bit more relieved at that. At least he had someone helping him for three years, still… a loss was a loss, and it irritated her.

"Look, I'm not saying you're weak… because you know, I know and those marines you beat down in my bar know it… which, honestly I have to replace the front of… thanks you your little bomb you made…" he said with a frown as Neo looked away in shame. Well shit, there went her money for a new boat.

"I'll pay for the damages-"

"Don't… just don't let your instincts like that get the best of you. Honestly, I knew from the beginning that you would probably lose" he admitted as Neo froze, turning to the man in a fiery and betrayed expression. Knew she's lose… just what the heck did that supposed to mean. Ryos however elaborated.

"For starters he took down an executive… so that's one thing" he said as Neo still kept her glare. "Then there's the fact that he was using that haki stuff you said you could do… not to mention his aura. You essentially had two different fighting styles. He took what you hit him with through you Maimu-Maimu no Mi and he counter-attacked appropriately. He essentially used your own method against you… minus the illusions and misdirection."

Neo said nothing, thinking back to the actual fight, slowly relishing that he was right. In most of that she was the aggressor while he was the defensive counter. Something that she was supposed to be… was her judgment really that clouded?

"You know… I don't know what kind of life you two lead or what history you two had… but from what I can guess he might actually be in the situation you're in. You said that you were separated from your uncle… well; I wonder just what he lost. Heck, he might have lost more than you think. So if you two are going to go for round two… do it away from my bar."

Neo said nothing and sighed… perhaps Ryos was right- wait… why was she starting to feel sorry or even question her motives behind her assult. What did the guy do for her?

Before she could say anything however, the sounds of footsteps entering the bar was heard as Ryos and Neo frowned and she instantly placed an illusion over herself before Ryos was met face-to-face with a marine. One that made him pale in slight fear…

"C-Captain Boshu… what are you doing in here-" he tried to ask before he was interrupted by the man slamming a fist in the wall by him.

"Quiet… tell me, you wouldn't happen to know about a woman with strange powers… would you?" he asked as Ryos frowned, trying not to let his emotions betray him.

"I don't know what you mean…" he said as Boshu narrowed his eyes. "If you mean that woman and man that started a fight in my bar then no, I don't."

"Your bar, that's rather funny, not a lot of people go to that bar… yet when my men did they were attacked by a woman that people said paid a visit to your bar… on a daily basis" he said with a frown even deeper than the one on his face already.

"So, she's a customer… not like I know her personally or anything. Customers are business, nothing more and nothing less" he responded as Neo frowned at that, despite it being a clear lie to try to save himself from a fight he couldn't hope to win. Boshu however continued.

"And yet we got a report that she snuck in here under some kind of disguise… and one that matched her descriptions on the other islands she's been sighted."

"I don't know what that has to do with it, no one's in here but me and you… or any of your men you brought with you" he said as Boshu smirked.

"Heh, true… but let me remind you on something… alright, Ryos. You may have been a good marine in your day… well, as good as a simple Lieutenant could get… but here's the thing. This town is under my jurisdiction… and my sense of justice. And I seek to protect the world with my justice…"

"Which is noble of you" Ryos said while he and Neo mentally frowned.

"So… I'm going to give you one chance to confess… Where is the Harlequin?" he asked bluntly as Ryos and Neo froze… d-did he know…?

"I-I told you I don't know… if I did I would tell you" he said as Boshu merely crossed his arms before sighing.

"And you're sure…" he asked as Ryos nodded while the captain nodded. "Alright… then I'll take your word on it… but you know… a word of a liar… is rather unfitting!" he yelled before he grabbed the man and slugged him in the gut, much to Neo's slight shock and anger as Ryos fell to his knees. Looking up at him, he was met with a kick to the face and landed by Neo's feet as she was about to intervene.

"Don't…" he muttered as he looked up at the blank wall, knowing that Neo still had up an illusion as she paused while Boshu just spat on the former marine before leaving.

"Pathetic… when you see your customer again… tell her this. If she doesn't show herself to me by tomorrow morning at eight o clock… then we will search the island… we will find her… and if she isn't there, then you will take her place." And with that being said, he left while Neo dispelled the illusion, bending down to try to help the man up as he felt pain course through him.

This was bad… he was hit hard. He needed medical attention and fast. As she prepared to get a first-aid kit, she was knocked back as the entire room shook and a scorching wave of flames danced at the exit.

No… no-no-no. that bastard… he was trying to burn them alive! This was… damn it!

"…Neo… get going… I'll be fine…" he said as Neo frowned at that, she was a survivor and to anyone else she might have ditched them… but she owed him a debt… and she was at the very least a woman of her word.

* * *

Meanwhile, Boshu left the bar, now with the remains burning as three cannons were pointed at the inferno as he smirked. "Alright, I want guns on that place. Shoot any movement you see and don't hesitate to kill." The marines frowned but nodded, pointing their guns at the flames for a sign of movement. However soon enough, the was a sound behind the building as several men went and checked the area out. They saw nothing move… not a sole person…

Even the flames seemed to dim down and remain still… and that wasn't right. One man quickly shot at the illusion and soon dispelled it before he felt something run past him. Neo carrying Ryos as she used her aura to enhance her general running while trying to do the best she could to avoid the bullets.

"Just don't stand there, after her!" Boshu ordered as several men went after the two. As she disappeared out of sight, Boshu turned to his second in command. "I want this island surrounded. Those illusions must be the work of a devil fruit. No one leaves this island until Huntsman and Harlequin are caught and killed."

"…Yes sir" Yen said as they prepared to hunt down the now three criminals as the people looked on in horror.

* * *

Jaune frowned as he went off to chase after Neo and Ryos himself, wanting answers before the whole building was blown sky-high. So, this was the infamous Captain Boshu he heard about. The Marine of "Absolute Justice" Jaune honestly felt sick at the performance. Seeing him leave, Jaune decided to go after the huntress… hoping that she would be in the mood to talk and not in the mood to fight.

Running after them, he frowned when he noticed that the marines were still going to be a problem. He already beat the heck out of them before. Beating Marines and fighting the Mafia… the Great Tale of the Glorious Jaune Arc. Oh dear god, he could only imagine what people would say if he told him this.

His family would go into overprotective mode and lock him in the house… his friends would either demand more answers or details or just call him a liar… Ozpin would probably shrug it off or something while sipping his mug of coffee… or hot chocolate… whatever was in that mug of his.

And he would just contemplate where this all started… him faking his transcripts, him not dropping out, him leaving Dusk Island or him not leaving when he had the chance.

Landing down on the ground, he smirked when he noticed Neo put up some kind barrier up, if the floating bullets that appeared before her raised hand were any indication. Looking at the injured man, he could tell from there he was not exactly feeling like sunshine and rainbows at the moment.

"Damn… go around her… don't let her escape…" one marine called out as Neo glared, surrounding herself in a cube with her Maimu-Maimu no Mi. She could fight them off if she didn't need to worry about Ryos. She could still get away… she could still survive… but she couldn't just leave the man who done so much for her just die while she abandoned him.

"Now, fire!"

"Rankyaku…" Jaune spoke up silently as a green wave of energy came at the marines, slicing at their feet and forcing them back. Neo blinked before she and some of the other marines looked to the source, seeing a lone man sheething a blade. "So… Round Two?" he asked with a bit of amusement as he eyed the marines over Neo and Ryos.

"W-what the… Huntsman?" a marine called out as he pointed his gun at him.

"T-that boy…" Ryos muttered before coughing up some blood, that hit he took broke a rib or two… he was nearly out of commission.

"…Arc?" Neo muttered wordlessly as she eyed the huntsman who entered the fight. Seeing him jump down, he merely crossed his arms and faced away from her, addressing the marines.

"Look, I really rather not deal with you right now… so let's make this quick" he said before pulling out his sword and channeling green energy into the blade. Swinging it down, the area between the marines and Jaune were surrounded in what seemed to be a hail storm of small waves or Rankyaku, tearing through the marines but doing nothing but scratching the surface of their skins and weapons. Pulling out a smoke bomb, Jaune threw it to the ground for a smokescreen before he and Neo both ran.

"Gah… what kind of technique was that?" one marine shouted as another one moaned. It was like several needles slamming into him at once. Just who was this guy supposed to be anyways?

* * *

"Lay him there…" Jaune said as Neo nodded, carrying Ryos and placing him by a tree next to the ship. Seeing him, Jaune tried to go to work, using his semblance and channeling his aura into the bartender. As he did so, Neo finally spoke up.

"Why… why did you bother to help us?" she demanded with narrowed eyes while Jaune faintly glowed white with Ryos doing the same.

"…Originally I was going to get answers… but I don't exactly like what the marines did back there" he admitted as Neo frowned.

"It was your fault it happened in the first place" she accused as she narrowed her eyes, switching colors as she blinked into a glare while Jaune said nothing. He wasn't going to argue or point fingers at the moment.

"Well, don't you have anything to say, Arc?" she asked again as she expected an answer before he finished trying to heal him, hopefully getting the most damage out of the way. Looking at the assassin, Jaune finally confronted her.

"…What's your deal?" he asked while Neo remained silent. "You try to kill me and you blame me for your fight. Not to mention everything in Vale that you and Torchwick caused… you nearly kill one of my friends and even after I decide to help you, you still want to start something?"

"My fight, if you didn't just behave and tell me what I wanted to know-" Neo muttered in anger while Jaune matched it.

"If you didn't start this shit then maybe this wouldn't have happened" he said as Neo suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders and pinned him to another tree.

"Say it again… I dare you… Arc…" she muttered slowly as Jaune merely kept his glare up.

"This… Is… All… Your-" he started before he was interrupted by a blow to his face. He didn't care that he was punched before he continued. "Fault!"

"You Bastard!" she shouted as she went for another blow with desire to punch his head straight off of his shoulders before he caught her wrist and pushed her off with his aura spiking. Getting her bearings, she flared her aura up as well before Jaune pulled out his blade and slammed it into the ground.

"Fuck it… you know what I helped you out, I tried to save his life and you don't care about any of that. Just what the hell are you anyways!" Jaune shouted as Neo snarled at him. Before she could take off her ring, she was shocked to see Jaune grab her hand and prevent her from doing so. "You think this is some kind of game? That you just play with people?"

"What would you know… You were just some spoiled idiot that wanted to play Hero!" she shouted, much to Ryos' shock. "You don't know shit. You're just some brat who thinks the world is filled with love! You don't know shit!"

"I know enough… but I don't give much of a damn about that. Now you are going to stop acting like some high-horsed bitch and tell me what I need to know!"

"Fuck you" was her only retort before Jaune and her were at a stalemate. no one was saying anything before Jaune eventually spoke something under his breath.

"…Why…" he said with quiet fury as Neo looked at him.

"What?" was her reply before she found herself pinned and meeting the anger-filled eyes of the one she once considered weak.

"The Breach, the Grimm… the White Fang you and Torchwick lead into the city! What the hell was the point!" Jaune demanded, wanting to know just what the problem was with her. "You treat this as some kind of game… you kill people, you don't seem to care… just what do you have to gain from all of this!"

"…What would you know!"

"Enough!" both of the heard a voice shout at them, both freezing in their tracks as both Jaune and Neo looked at Ryos in shock as he glared at them. "both of you are acting like brats… if you are both going to just argue then both of you just get off of this island… because id doesn't matter who you two were before… not after what you both lost…" he said while they remained quiet.

"…I'm just tired…" Neo admitted as she looked down and fell to the ground. "I lost my life…my duty… the only one who ever thought of me as something more that a freak… you don't know what it's like… you don't know what I had to do to survive… you were just some little fool that wanted to live in his perfect little world… all while thinking everything would be fine…" she said, no longer angry but now exhausted. The last thing she expected was to hear him laugh.

"Yeah… I know the feeling… I lost my family and friends… my home and my dream… the very life I had and I don't even know if they even consider me alive anymore. I… we've been here for three years… we've been doing what we could to survive… to find some kind of answers… and now here was are… arguing about who's even right in the first place…" he said as he surprisingly joined her.

"Tch… I guess" she muttered as Jaune just gave a weak laugh.

"You were right… I was a fool… I wanted to be the hero, to live in my little make-believe world that life was perfect… now here I am, a criminal in a place I don't even know with someone who wants to kill me for whatever reason that floats in her mind… all while I don't even know if they even remember me…"

"But you know something… I'm not just going to sit down and mope… or even debate whether it's fair or not… I lost my fair share of things… and I don't want to lose anything else…" he admitted as he didn't notice the sky getting darker, the clouds gathering.

"You really have lost a lot…" Neo muttered before finally looking at him and to her shock, saw him begin to cry.

"I lost… to much… so much I have to bear… even if it hurts me though… even if nothing can come from this… I'm not going to just give up… I'm alive… and knowing that they're suffering while I'm just sitting on my ass truly hurts. But if I can't return, if I can never return to Remnant, do you think they would want me to just give up and waste my life away chasing a phantom dream?"

"…It's been three years…" Neo admitted as she looked down, Ryos getting up and holding himself up as much as he could. In the end, she didn't know what to do… she was a survivor, she needed to make it to Remnant… but if she never could… what then…?

"…At least you have each other…" Ryos muttered with a smile as the two looked at him confused. What did that mean? Looking at him for an explaination, he just added his two cents. "Both of you are stuck here… and both of you know what it's like to lose the things you had closest to you… but at least you have one another…"

At least they weren't alone…

"…Heh, just great. The only person I have left of my old life is some kind of sociopathic mute with a stab-fetish… might as well send me a Grimm and we'll be set" Jaune said sarcastically as Neo rolled her eyes.

"To be fair I'll take the Grimm instead of your ass any day…"

"We really are intolerable… huh?" he asked with a smile as Neo slowly held one of her own.

"No, just you… I'm glorious in every sense of the word…" she replied with a bit of charisma as Jaune just faked pain.

"Oh dear god… the ego… it's killing me" he said with a teasing smirk as Neo just crossed her arms and held onto a playful smile.

"If that's the case… I should just be more egotistical around you… maybe promote myself at your funeral" she said as Jaune just stared at her before they both just started to laugh at the bad joke, finding some relevant peace between them.

"To the poor unlucky bastards… may we suffer together instead of alone!" he called out as he pretended to hold a glass in his hand as Neo just smiled at that, shaking her head.

"And we're all out of alcohol too… we need to hit the bar… maybe if you're a good boy you'll get a reward?" she teased as Jaune just rolled his eyes.

"You mean a little kissy-kissy and a kick through the wall?" he asked as Ryos blinked, wait, what?

"Meh, probably the best kiss you ever got?" she said as Jaune looked away with a blush. To be fair that was the only kiss he ever got… well the first one he got on the lips.

"…Look, I'll be blunt… I don't trust you… nor can I say I really like you" he said as he got up from the ground as Neo stared at him before he held out a hand. "But… if we're in this mess together, if we both have nowhere to go… provided you don't try to kill me again… truce?" he called as the woman looked at him before shrugging her shoulders…

"…For now" she said before taking his hand and being helped up. As she did, she turned to Ryos, who just seemed to be looking at them with a small smile.

"Least you brats aren't fighting anymore…" he muttered as Jaune just smiled.

"Yeah… sorry about that… and the bar… and… you know" he said and apologized awkwardly as Neo spoke up on her own subject.

"You alright, Ryos…?" she asked as the older man smirked.

"Better, still this isn't over yet" he said before reminding them about the current affairs. "Boshu's still going to be hunting us down… and I doubt he's just going to let this slide."

"yeah… so, what's the plan?" Jaune asked bluntly as the two looked at him while Ryos frowned.

"What do you mean by that? Not like it matters to you and Neo…?"

"that boshu guy just kind of pisses me off… it's clear that as long as he's here that things will just get worse, right?" Jaune asked as he got a nod from the older man. "So since he already called me and Neo out, might as well finish this… if you want to anyways?" he asked with a look at Neo, who just smiled at that.

…A chance to take down the bastard that tried to kill her… seemed like fun… Besides, she had a few bones to pick with the marines and she did owe a debt to Ryos…

"…Fine, if you two want to help… then we'll take it. I just hope you two will be alright afterwards" Ryos said as Jaune nodded before heading towards his boat.

"Jaune…" he heard Neo call to him as he turned around and noticed her looking at him, her eyes switching colors yet again as Jaune seemed quiet. "…Sorry" she muttered as she tried to look away while he just shrugged.

"Just promise me this, alright, Neo?" he asked as she looked at her with a soft smile. "That when this is over, that when we take them down that we can both get answers and leave on good terms…" he said before noticing a small hint of sadness.

'Unless you don't want to…' he thought before frowning. "We both are alone now, right? Just you and me… and Ryos I guess?" he asked as Neo looked at him and said nothing. What did that mean?

"…Look, you don't have to… but if we're really in this together then we could at least see this through together..." he said offering another hand… "So… partners?" he asked as Neo just stared at him. Looking at him as if he was insane. Was he offering her a place by his side? A place where she could be together with someone?

He was an idiot in doing this, he was an absolute moron… but they were both alone, both wanting comfort… it was better to suffer together than to suffer alone… besides, his mother always said friends as strangers you never met yet…

Though he could only imagine how they would react if the saw this…

Neo said nothing, staring at the hand, memories of Roman offering her help, memories that were all she had left of Remnant. Slowly picking up herself up, she grabbed the blonde's hand tightly, not letting go… not until they needed to. She accepted, she didn't care… all she knew was that after today, she would be with someone instead of being alone…

* * *

"You sure you're going to be alright here?" Jaune asked as he looked at Ryos, who nodded. Neo however stood behind him with a concerned look while Ryos tried to reassure them.

"I told you I'd be fine, didn't I?" he asked as he got up and smiled. "Besides, that semblance of yours really came in handy, kid," he said as Jaune just blushed slightly.

"Thanks… I call it Amplify," Jaune said as Neo looked at him and was impressed with his own semblance. While she preferred her illusions much more than his apparent aura amplification, she would admit it seemed handy. All things had aura and if nothing else, if the pirate life did not work out, maybe he could be a doctor…

Still, amplifying one's aura… it seemed, familiar somehow to her, where did she hear about this before.

"So, what's the plan?" Jaune asked as they looked at him confused. "I mean, I just got here, you two probably know more than me by this point" he explained as he was sure Neo could have taken them out herself. Neo looked to Ryos for an explanation while the former marine sighed.

"Well, I won't stop you if you do this, but I need to remind you… that if you do fight the marines then there will be no going back, you will be criminals to the World Government."

Yeah… I know, but they started this and I have a bone to pick with them. I knew I was probably going to be a pirate anyways… so at least I might as well start with doing some good as well.

Taking on a corrupt marine base as his first official crime… at least he would not be doing something much worse like raiding a village. Besides… if this guy believed in his so-called "Absolute Justice" then he would be the one to beat it. Neo however smirked, having a few good bones to pick with them as well.

She could have easily taken them down a long time ago; she only did not because Ryos had asked her not to get herself into trouble on his account. Well, all bets were off now and with one of the last few good marines being kicked out and her friend… yeah, her friend being attacked then she was going to put them back in place…

…Whether it is in a hospital or a grave…

As Ryos saw their expressions, he smiled slightly and chuckled. Amazing, not only a day ago they were at the other's throats… now they were united by a common goal…

"Alright, here's what I know, there are currently three marines that could pose a problem… you know that the one at the top is Boshu, he at the Kara-Kara no Mi… he's a Shell Human."

"…Shell Human… you mean like a crab?" Jaune asked as Ryos shook his head, though it would have been funny to imagine Boshu as a crab if he was not such a… well, anyways.

"Boshu is able to generate a shell around him made of his skin, most bullets or swords can't do much about it," Ryos said as Neo and Jaune frowned. Great, so he had his own version of an aura cloak… Worse off he could probably use it similar to Jaune's own Tekkai. Oh well, he'd just have to cut straight through it when they fought. Placing a hand on his weapon, Jaune smirked.

"Right, leave him to me, I can cut through him with my Rankyaku and withstand his attacks with Tekkai" Jaune said as the former marine nodded. Yeah, and from what he was told, Jaune was also skilled in at least basic haki. Boshu might be formidable but against someone like Jaune, he would be out-classed.

This was not bringing up the concepts of aura or even his semblance.

"The next one is Yen, the second in command so to speak. He's skilled with his sword but he can also use a basic hand-to-hand fighting style" he said as Jaune and Neo seemed interested in that. Before Jaune could say anything, Neo spoke up… or rather smirked as she placed her newly required weapon on her back and had her eyes switch colors, indicating that she was ready to fight. If Jaune was getting the big-boy, then she called dibs on the second biggest fish.

That left one more however… not to mention the other grunts of the marines that were probably going to get in their way.

"Who's the third one?" Jaune asked as Ryos smirked, pulling out a small knife.

"You two just focus on your opponents, I'll focus on mine," he said as the two were taken back at that. Ryos was going to fight, wait, scratch that… Ryos could fight.

If Ryos could fight, why didn't he?

"Look, I might not be enough of help to take on Yen or Boshu… but I can at least hold my own as a distraction for Kloya" he reassured as he brushed himself off. "I was a lieutenant for a reason, you know…" As Jaune and Neo were unsure, Jaune finally sighed before nodding his head and holding out a hand.

Alright, then we'll trust you to give us some cover… but if you ever need help-

"Then he has us!" a man shouted as they all looked to see a familiar man that Ryos smiled in recognition and slight relief.

"… So, you are here as well… Koruja?" he asked as Koruja smirked.

"…Wait, aren't you that one guy…?" Jaune asked as he remembered the man being "Fired" from the marines when he first got here, as Neo seemed impressed. He was one of the few good marines left.

"I might not be much, but I'm not going to let someone like Boshu and his men insult the marines anymore," Koruja stated with his arms crossed before looking back behind him. "And I'm not alone in this either…"

Behind him, stood several other people, though while not very battle ready, were all former marines as well. Jaune and Neo recognized some of them as the villagers while Ryos and Koruja kept their smirks.

"We aren't afraid of Boshu and his men..."

"We won't let them get away with this!"

"This is our town, let us help you kids."

"Let us fight!"

"Jaune, Neo... This is our fight as well" Ryos stated as he walked up to the crowd and addressed them. "We have our pride as marines, and we have our own sense of justice. Boshu isn't the kind of justice this world needs. We joined the marines, knowing that we would be risking our lives... for doing what we could to protect the people. Let us fulfil our duty... and risk our lives for what we believe in."

Jaune said nothing, shocked at the turn of events as Neo slowly smiled, not a cocky and playful smirk but a genuine smile before looking at Jaune while placing the sea-stone ring back on. "So... you ready to go... Captain?" she asked as Jaune looked at her, noticing she

"C-Captain?" Jaune spluttered, not expecting Neo of all people to call him that. Looking at her, she smirked.

"You were the team leader, and you look like you can hold yourself... so for now I'll accept you as my captain. But if you hesitate... or you can't keep up... then I'll take that position and make you my second-in-command."

Jaune just said nothing at that... oh great, his first mate outright stated she'd mutiny him if he didn't live up to her standards... and then make him her subordinate... oh well, at least it wasn't him being killed.

"Yeah, sure... just make sure you don't blow up a town again... alright? Captain?" he said in a teasing tone as Neo just smiled, seemingly enjoying the challenge of the position as captain. Meanwhile, the others just looked on with curious expressions. Were... were they flirting?

Ryos just looked on with a deadpanned expression; he knew that they technically kissed...

"...Are they together?" one man asked as a woman answered him.

"Well the marines did say that they kissed...," she said while the group got a bit louder.

"...Well I hope they work out well..." another man said, wishing them luck while Jaune and Neo said nothing.

"...Um, we're right here you know" Jaune reminded as he and Neo just looked at the group with matching blunt expressions... seriously, they were not together... that kiss meant nothing.

"Right... well if you two are done flirting-" Ryos stated, ignoring the protests of "We aren't flirting/ Meh, I could do worse" from Jaune and Neo respectively, they continued the actual point of the meeting.

"Ryos... after the incident at the bar, the marines are surrounding the island and spread out... the only ones at the mansion are probably a few basic men and Boshu and Yen respectively" a man said as Jaune perked up at that. Really, just Boshu and Yen? He was sure that he and Neo could handle the others... but then he slowly smirked.

"So... basically, you're saying that Boshu and Yen are in that mansion... mostly alone... with all the other marines looking for us?" he asked while looking to Neo. "So... want to take a walk?" he asked as Neo seemed confused before slowly smiling at his suggestion. Oh, this was going to be fun...

* * *

Meanwhile, Boshu just waited for his men to send word of the capture of the Huntsman and Harlequin. It was clear that they both seemed to choose running over fighting. they would probably try to leave as soon as they had the chance... right into his fleet until they were brought in. Meanwhile, Ryos was with them, having his men in the town would eliminate the chances of them taking refuge in the town.

It was merely a waiting game. And one he could be patient in. Meanwhile, Yen stood beside him while crossing his arms. Pity, he really wanted to see what that so-called Harlequin was about? Still it was a matter of bringing them in over just personal preference. "Captain, Kloya has just reported in, the barricade is set up" he said as Boshu smirked. Good, now it was just a matter of time before they were brought before him... there was no way they could possibly escape now-

*Boom*

"What was that?" Boshu demanded outright as he heard something in the foyer, more so was the voice that seemed to echo in the area.

"Boshu! get your ass down here and fight me!" one voice of Jaune Arc shouted as the marines froze... Boshu just slowly getting up and smirking. Well, he would give the brat this? At least they had the guts to face him directly.

"Yen, inform the men to swarm the area, we aren't going to let the Huntsman escape" he said calmly as Yen nodded. as they headed down to the foyer, they were greeted with the forms of Jaune and Neo. Jaune resting his hand on his blade while Neo merely cocked her head, her infamous grin showing as her umbrella rested on her shoulder. Smirking, Boshugracked his knuckles. "So... the infamous Huntsman and Harlequin... nice to see you both, I hope you've been helped."

"...You can spare us the pleasantries... let's just get going" Jaune said, drawing his sword and holding it with a means of battle. He honestly just wanted to get this over with. "I am on a time-table here..."

"Cocky brat... you pirate scum are all the same, you believe you can do whatever you want. Let me tell you something... this world is filled with pirates like you and your friend, people who think that you rule the world. But this world belongs to the World Government; it follows the rules of Absolute Justice."

'And here we go' Jaune thought before looking at him annoyed.

"Tell me kid, do you know what that means?" he asked as Jaune just replied near-robotically-

"That bigots like you and the swine's up top are inhumane fucks," he said as no one said anything. Neo just looked at him, slightly amused while Yen and the marines looked at him in shock. Boshu saying nothing but glaring at the boy who insulted him. "Look, I know how this ends, I'm the bad guy and you're the saint. You steal, lie and kill in the name of you shitty views of justice. You're an asshole, I'm an asshole... we're all assholes here so just shut up and fight me... thought I had enough of this back at Little Moss" he muttered the last part as he was seriously starting to get some sort of déjà vu here. In the end, he was going to attack him-

"You damn brat!" Boshu shouted as he reached for his sword and went to slice through him for insulting the meaning of Absolute Justice. As he did though, Jaune defended himself with his sword and just continued his thought process.

-Going to be overwhelmed and then bitch about it while trying to kill him. Jeez just his luck. This was like Little Moss all over again. Seeing an opening, Jaune just rushed into the man, slammed a finger in his arm, causing him to shout and drop his sword before Jaune grabbed him, and threw him outside the mansion, annoyed.

"Neo... have fun" he said as he just walked out of the room while Yen and the marines looked at the leaving huntsman before they armed their weapons at him, ending when they were suspended in mid-air, Neo looking at them with a smile. Nope, they were in her web now... and she was going to enjoy their struggling.

"You... Harlequin? Just what is your game?" Yen demanded as she merely looked at him curious. "That... that isn't an illusion... yet they said you could create illusions that resembled a mirror... just what are you?" he demanded as Neo just shrugged her shoulders. Not like, she cared to tell him anyways.

Pointing at him, she just smirked and went into the fight of her own...

*Cling-Cling-Cling*

"You bastard" the captain shouted as Jaune merely smiled.

"It's Jaune actually" he replied with a witty retort, ignoring the man's snarl. As the man went into swing a second sword he had on his being at the younger swordsman, Jaune just played along and countered it with a weaker form of swordsmanship.

"You think you can get away from me, from justice... you honestly think you will get far... get off this island?!" he shouted as Jaune just ignored him. Seriously, did this guy always complain about things when he fought?

"Probably, not that is really matters to you" he said with a small frown. Spitting on the ground, Jaune smirked. "So, you ready to actually try?" Jaune asked as he held his sword and relaxed a bit.

"You... you think you're actually able to defeat me, to stand up against the marines? You idiot, I am the man who will become the next Fleet Admiral and revolutionize the marines? Someone like you is just a disgrace."

"Oh, really... well maybe you're right. I'm a liar, a cheater, and overall a kind of a dick... but here's the thing... I'm not weak like you?" he admitted as Boshu went to slice him. Instead of moving, Jaune just used his aura and caught the blade.

"W-What in the..." Boshu muttered as Jaune just crushed the metal in his hand, ignoring the small bits of blood his aura healed. It was not even worth the Tekkai, his lone strength was good enough. He did not need his tricks and abilities to fight someone like Boshu.

"Y-you... alright, then if you think you can beat me, let me show you just what I'm capable of..." Boshu stated as Jaune just frowned before noticing that his body seemed to change into a darker color. His arms growing into a rock-like texture as Jaune smirked.

'So... that is the Kara-Kara no Mi... Meh, mine is cooler' Jaune thought to himself as he just looked at the man before him, his eyes focusing on his form before frowning. He could tell from there he was a bit stronger, well at least he seemed stronger than Rein Zero…

"Now, how about try this again… you won't be able to beat me as I am now, the Kara-Kara no Mi amplifies my defensive and offensive properties by five times, you can't hope to defeat me."

"…You done, because seriously, this is actually getting annoying, oh look at me, I'm invincible… honestly I'm pretty sure Nora or Yang could beat you if they tried hard enough…" Jaune said bluntly, having also decided to end it. Because really, this was just starting to get sad… even if he did increase his defensive capabilities, his aura did the same thing; heck, his semblance did the same thing. So you know what…?

Grabbing his blade, Jaune merely sheathed it before addressing the marine. "Look, let's not waste anyone's time… just come at me with what you got…" Jaune said as Boshu finally had enough of the swordsman's tone.

He was a marine, a follower of absolute justice, and this boy was a mere dog. He would show him, he would put him and those that followed him in their place, once he became Fleet Admiral…

"Grr… Die, Huntsman! This move was enough to knock out a sea king!" Boshu shouted as he jumped in the air while Jaune just looked at the man and frowned. Sighing, he merely joined him in the air, much to his shock. "What!"

"Rankyaku: Kuikkudorō" Jaune muttered before drawing his blade and in a swift line of green energy, a cut was made, the screams of Boshu were heard while several marines and villagers looked on in shock and horror. As Jaune landed back on the ground, holding his blade in hand, as Boshu fell seconds later, a large gash that cut through his fruit while Jaune just frowned.

"Rankyaku… a technique of the CP9… a technique that can be enhanced through one's aura…" Jaune said as he sheathed his blade and turned back to the man who gripped his wound in agony. "You said I was a brat, I was scum and knew nothing about justice. You are right, I do not know about Absolute Justice and I hope I never can. But I know one thing, I follow my gut and my heart" he said before walking back to the mansion, passing the captain and looking back.

"And unlike you, I don't shove it down other's throats…" he finished before leaving him to bleed out, the marines that came by or were interested to watch the battle now backing away in fear.

"That… that man… he… he cheated!"

"He took down the captain… like it was nothing…"

"What the hell is he, he's not human, he can't be…"

"…So?" Jaune asked out with a glare and placing his hand on his blade's hilt "Who's next?" he asked as the marines watching all palled in fear, before running away to live another day. Smirking at that, Jaune merely decided to head back inside, only for him to activate Tekkai, a bullet hitting him on the head before he turned to see Boshu glare at him, his wounded arm dangling while his other hand held a pistol.

"You… you think I'll allow this? You think I'll allow this humility on me… on my justice?" he shouted while Jaune would admit he was stubborn.

"You lost… a fight would be meaningless-" he started to say before heading back towards the mansion.

"Shut up!" he shouted as he shot the blond swordsman again. "I am Boshu of the marines… a man… a servant of Absolute Justice. In addition, you are nothing but a dog that needs to be put down! I will not let you escape… I will find you… I'll kill you… kill you and everyone you love!" he shouted as Jaune as he froze.

"What?" he muttered as Boshu kept talking.

"You, your friends and family… I will find out everything about you… I will track where you have been, I will kill those you care for… I will show you and the world what happens when you interfere with Justice… And those cowards will be next!"

"…Cowards?" Jaune asked aloud before he decided to ask. "You mean your men?"

"Cowards are unworthy of serving under me! I will deal with them next… I will deal with anyone who stands against me… And when I do, I'll kill every last one of them… in the name of justice…"

Jaune turned around, clearly having enough before freezing. Boshu just chuckled to himself; his eyes bloodshot and his mouth wide open in a manic smile. Blood from his wounds dripping out of his mouth and down his chin, as he seemed less human and more of a demon, more so with his Kara-Kara no Mi still in effect.

"…You you're serious… you would really kill others out of justice?" Jaune asked as he shook while Boshu just laughed.

"I'll kill you all!" he declared as the people around him froze. "You, Harlequin, your friends and family and everyone you've ever met. I'll show them how justice is carried, I'll track you down to the ends of the world, track you down and kill you… in the name of justice… my justice… in the name of Absolute Justice, I'll Kill You… Jaune-Gah!"

*Splurt*

Jaune said nothing as he suddenly stood before Boshu with his left arm extended through his chest and an expression covered by his hair. Pulling his arm out and bringing it back, his ignored the entrails that he forced out as well, the man slowly falling to his knees and grabbing Jaune weakly.

"I'll… kill… you… Huntsman…" he whispered as Jaune said nothing and allowed the man to collapse, as he remained quiet. His hands balled into fists as he shivered memories from Dusk Island, from that even appearing in his mind before he finally spoke up…

"…Y-you… you… You fucking dumbass!" he shouted as he now glared at the corpse with anger and a small tear falling from his eyes. "You just had to keep talking… You had to make this about them!" he shouted, as he remained quiet afterwards, another man he killed, and more blood on his hands…

All because he followed his Absolute Justice crap to such a degree that it was more madness than devotion.

"Jaune…?" he heard a voice call out to him before Ryos noticed him standing over the former captain and sighed.

"You aren't a beast, Jaune" he heard Mile's words echo in his head as Ryos could only look at the other man with concern before noticing Neo emerge from her battle.

* * *

While Jaune fought with Boshu, Neo just frowned as she took down the small grunts that Jaune had called them, rather liking the name herself before addressing Yen with a smirk. Was he finally ready to fight and stop hiding behind the marines?

"Tch… guess I don't have a choice," he said before drawing his own sword and glaring at the hunteress before smirking. "Feel honored that you will be defeated by the great Niwatori Yen" he called as he swung his blade at the woman who easily just sidestepped it and delivered a counter into his side in the form of a kick in his side. Stumbling back, Yen frowned.

"…Alright then, come at me" he said as Neo just quirked an eyebrow. Well this would be easier than she thought. Making a gun using her Maimu-Maimu no Mi, she prepared to just shoot him and be done with it before she suddenly frowned… something, seemed off, her leg seemed to freeze up a bit, it was growing numb!

"Heh, can't move can you… that's because of my specialty… is suppose we could call it a devil fruit… The Mahi-Mahi no Mi, it allows one to paralyze someone on contact… you won't be moving your leg for a few days… all while I get to have some time with you" he said while Neo frowned, she did not like the way he said it. Still that did not mean she would not take the shot. Shooting the marine, he merely sidestepped it with a smirk. "So that's your ability…"

"You conjure illusions and hide behind your limited fighting skill… you use weapons to fight your battles… you're amateur at best" he accused as Neo just looked at him. She was an amateur at best. She was going to enjoy this much more than she should…

"So, you ready to give up and come quietly?" he asked as Neo just spat at him before preparing her umbrella once more, channeling her aura into her paralyzed leg and feeling the effects wearing off. As she lured him into a strike with his blade, she merely countered it and delivered a grabbed his blade before breaking it. Disarmed, Yen tried to jump back before Neo continued the assault, feeling her aura confronting his devil fruit ability.

"You!"

'Break' she thought before she jumped over him and threw him into the wall before rushing in with her umbrella's blade now extended. The man could only scream in pain as he was pierced in the chest before she continued to smirk.

"H-how… my devil fruit… it should have made you completely paralyzed!" he shouted as Neo just smirked. Oh it almost did, if she didn't have her aura she would have been heavily annoyed with that, still, that was one thing she discovered during her life is that when it came to aura, it could do more than just heal the body or increase one's strength and endurance…

She was a skilled enough master at her aura, something she took quite a bit of pride in. Still she was rusty and would have to get back into shape… if Jaune was going into the Grand Line, then so would she. If there were truly stronger opponents to face, stronger people to get her back in shape, then she would have to keep training.

Looking down at her hand, she merely took placed her sea-stone ring back on and frowned. The man slowly getting up from the injury before he prepared to keep going.

"Harlequin, I won't let you escape!"

"Then don't, you're weak, you're pathetic… and more importantly, you're boring. So let's make it a bit more interesting… no more devil fruits, just you and me with that little hand-to-hand combat you have… if you even can fight" she taunted as Yen frowned. "What's wrong? Chicken?" she taunted as the man finally glared, having enough.

"I'll end you, you bi-"

"Nope" she said before using her aura to grab his wrist and with a snap of her hand, broke his wrist, earning a scream of agony. "Jaune's probably done by now, I have better things to do than baby sit someone so weak" she muttered before smirking. Without any warning, she mockingly bowed to Yen, which just further annoyed him.

D-did she think she was better than he was? This mutt of a pirate though she was better than the right hand man of Captain Boshu!

Such insolence

Running up to her, he delivered one last blow to her still-form image before it shattered into pieces. "What!" he shouted before he felt cold, a blade from Neo's umbrella now through his chest before he shivered.

"…H-how… that… you're… who… what… are" he finished before collapsing on the floor and joining his captain in the next life. Neo said nothing before sighing, honestly, this was a bit disappointing, she really needed to find an actual challenge soon because other than the marine grunts, the panda grunts and the other grunts she fought, there was no one who even interested her.

Walking through the mess of the mansion's ruins, she notices Jaune and Ryos waiting for her with Boshu lying dead at her partner's feet. Well at least he could kill, so that was one thing she did not have to deal with down the road. That was until she noticed his expression. A mix of annoyance, slight concern and even a bit of nostalgia crossed her features…

Was this his first kill?

"Are you alright, Jaune?" Ryos asked as Jaune looked at him and nodded.

"Yeah… just thinking," he said as he just turned away from his kill and addressed Ryos. "What about you, what happened to the other marines… to that Klova person?" he asked as Ryos shrugged.

"Coward got away… apparently he chickened out when me and Kuroja took down his ship… it was less of an actual barricade and more of a line of ships… with cannons… honestly it was much more annoying than you would think."

"Then the marines in town-" Neo asked as Ryos smirked.

"Being detained by the others," he said bluntly, as Jaune nodded while looking down at the village, seeing everyone look at them while Jaune just flinched under their gaze. That is right, he did just kill their marine base's captain… he was not sure how to react.

"Jaune…"

"So… now what?" he asked, not sure how to even proceed before he heard several of the villagers cheer out in celebration. Not the reaction he would have thought he would get for taking out a marine captain…

* * *

"You guys have to listen to me, these guys are dangerous… they already headed out to the mansion… I can't get a hold of Yen and I don't even know what happened to the captain!" a man with a Mohawk called out before a small snail with a dial on the shell "spoke up."

"You need to calm down… alright so just tell us what happened, who were involved in this…" a voice said as Klova glared.

* * *

Jaune sighed as he laid down on his small boat bored while Neo was no better, sailing in her own boat next to his while reading a book she bought from the town on Palma Island. It's been around five days since the "incident" with the marines and two days since they set sail… and Neo was obviously annoyed at their current situations…

More to the point… they needed a bigger ship.

"Jaune… Ryos said we could get a ship at Shine Island… we can get a temporary one before that, right?" she asked while Jaune nodded, having decided that since Neo first joined. He might have been alright going alone on the ship he got from Little Moss Island… but after Neo joined it was clear that they were going to need a lot more things before they even tried to go to the Grand Line…

That being said, it was amazing they managed to last two days out at sea already… between the fact that the only things they had to eat were fruits and vegetables they were given from Ryos and the others, it was also annoying when they had to try and sleep in their ships and not worry about drifting away from another… they could solve that by throwing the anchor over and tying their boats together with a rope…

But that didn't mean they didn't want to walk around… or eat something other than fruits… or dear god above how they had to deal with bathroom breaks… that was horrifying to think about…

Changing the subject, they also needed something more at the moment… they needed money. And both of them were barely able to fully get by as is… their total savings rounding out to maybe around 70,000,000 Belli… not only that but there were also the fact that as they were now they really needed to get some more supplies… they were going to need to get food, a Log Pose… some more clothes later down the line and while Rally gave him his clothes for free he had a feeling that others would be less kind to an actual pirate.

And that was the other thing… they were now actually pirates. Wanted criminals of the World Government that was even larger than what the Panda Family placed out for them. Case and point… this was going to be a long trip preparation.

"So, how much longer did you say this island was?" Jaune asked the silent Neo who sighed.

"Hopefully a few more hours" she said, slightly annoyed as she blew a few strands of her pink hair out of her face while trying to continue her reading as Jaune just sighed.

Thinking back, he could honestly hope that they didn't eventually kill one another out of bordom. That being said, he looked back to the sky, thinking back to what Ryos had told them…

* * *

 _The small and somewhat lit dwelling of Ryos was rather small, but after the events that happened the last three days, Jaune just smiled, having to get going after they rounded up the rest of the marines. Neo, who stood beside him with her arms crossed and a small smile on her face looked at the oldest of the three as Ryos mirrored the expression with a smile of his own._

 _"_ _So, you both decided to head out then?" he asked one last time as Jaune nodded his head, his hands in his pants pockets as he had his sword strapped to his belt._

 _"_ _Yeah, it's about time I left, besides if what you said is true then me and Neo made a few enemies with the other marines" he said as Neo didn't care. She had enemies around her all her life, she was a criminal, an assassin of grace that wasn't supposed to be accepted by the authorities, besides… not like it mattered in the end._

 _"…_ _Alright, just be careful, you both still have bounties now, apparently that damn bastard exaggerated the facts" Ryos sighed as Jaune frowned as he recalled some of the "Crimes" that he supposedly did…_

 _Like destroying an entire town out of intense rage or sexually harassing an innocent woman_

 _Oh Neo got a good laugh out of that while Jaune just considered demanding justice by going to the closest marine base on the next island and complaining… for god's sakes he didn't harass anyone. It was Neo who kissed him and spawned that grenade so why was he being blamed for that?_

 _Bullshit aside_

 _As the two aura users looked at their new bounties, they were both a bit surprised it went up as much as it did. Jaune was however, a bit happy that his epithet seemed to change, not acting as a reminder of his old dream being impossible to achieve…_

* * *

 _Wanted Dead or Alive:_

 _Silver Blade: Jaune Arc_

 _27,000,000_

* * *

 _Wanted Dead or Alive:_

 _Harlequin: Neopolitan Torchwick_

 _22,000,000_

* * *

 _"…_ _It went up… quite a bit" Jaune stated, looking at the new poster of him standing at the camera man with a tense glare, one hand resting on his blade and a his body somehow both relaxed and tense at the same time… if that was even possible… "…Wait, how did they even get this?" he asked as he never even seen someone with a camera before trying to figure out how they even got his picture…_

 _Neo, however, just looked at her bounty and picture in silence, examining it with a critical gaze and was a bit pleased. While she wished the bounty would have been a bit bigger, she was happy that it exceeded over twenty million Belli and that her picture was a better one than the Pandas had on her._

 _Wearing a new black short-sleeve shirt with her pale coat opened up and her matching black pants and white boots… However as she turned to the camera she merely held a small grin that promised someone a time to remember, seeming to be that of a flirt a good time… or in reality, a cat that's looking at the petrified mouse with several different ways of how to eat it flowing through its mind._

 _"…_ _Uh, Neo…?" Jaune asked as he noticed her slowly grin at the updated poster while Ryos just seemed a bit worried about the situation. Jaune Arc was taking her out to seas with him, and with him being honest with himself, the former marine honestly wondered if they would make it to the next island._

 _"_ _Well… at least you two are making some kind of progress… you said this was your second island since you left?" the older man asked as Jaune nodded, it was technically is third if he counted the island he landed on but yeah, second island. After remaining silent for a second, Ryos smirked as he seemed to have thought of something amusing. "By this rate you'll probably have a bounty of three-hundred million before you even get to the New World."_

 _"…_ _Thank-you?" he asked, not sure if he should have taken it as a compliment or an insult but either way it didn't matter. He was a pirate now and with that being his career choice from here on out… might as well try to make the most of it. Neo just returned her attention to the two as Ryos smirked at them._

 _"_ _So, what's the next plan? You said you were heading into the Grand Line… and you both stated that you two might never make it back to that Remnant place of yours… just why are you heading there anyways?" Ryos asked as Jaune merely shrugged his shoulders._

 _"…_ _Don't fully know… at first I wanted to head back to Remnant and maybe find a clue on how to return… but now I just want to live my life and see the world for myself… I don't know much about how this world is like or how to really play the game… but if I can't be a hero or a huntsman… then I'll just see the world and decide what to do then."_

 _Ryos said nothing but smirked. It seemed like a decent plan anyways, he was caught up in the wonders of the sea and the world, a place to explore and a place with romance and adventure with no true answers on what you would find. Tragedy…? Happiness…? A new world, a new dream… a new adventure…_

 _And Adventure of a life time… that's what Jaune's dream was… to see the world, make friends and carve a name for himself… Jaune Arc was truly like most pirates in the sea, people like Shanks and Whitebeard, and even the tales he were told about the Pirate King…_

 _"_ _Jaune… Neo… have you heard about the Pirate King; Gold Rogers?" he asked as Jaune and Neo gave the man a look of curiosity. Neo never heard of the man, she only heard bit and pieces here and there… but she never really paid attention to someone who died long ago. Meanwhile Jaune was curious about the man. Sure he never wanted to become the Pirate King or even find this so called One Piece, he just wanted to see the world and find a place and a goal for himself._

 _"_ _You mean that one guy who became the Pirate King?" Neo asked, talking for the first time since their conversations began as Ryos smirked before deciding to talk about the legendary man himself._

 _"_ _Wealth, Fame, Power… Gold Rogers was a man who became Pirate King because he found the treasure called One Piece. He was considered the strongest man in the generation and held a crew and a ship that fully explored the Grand Line and New World. Not only that but he was the man who inspired the Great Age Pirates…"_

 _"_ _He had a treasure and started the pirate craze and all that stuff…" Neo finished as she was hoping he'd get a bit more to the point. While the ideals of Pirate King would seem interesting, she wasn't suicidal. Those at the top were usually hunted down unless they had power to back them up. If everyone was going to become Pirate King then she was better off doing her own thing._

 _"…_ _Many pirates go out there and risk their lives every day for the One Piece, Neo… if you want to go and become Pirate King it's something on the table…"_

 _"_ _No… not that" Jaune piped in quick enough as Ryos looked at him caught off guard. Not at the answer… but how quick he said it._

 _"_ _No?" he asked as Jaune nodded._

 _"…_ _I don't want to become a king or anything… I just want to see the world. It's my life so why should I follow someone else's dream. If someone wants to become the Pirate King then that's their choice."_

 _"…_ _What?" Jaune asked as he noticed Neo and Ryos stare at him with looks on their faces. Neo was honestly shocked that Jaune outright turned down the idea of him becoming Pirate King… probably the most famous and powerful person in the world… all because it wasn't "His Dream" and Ryos…_

 _"…_ _Pfhaa~" he chuckled before laughing at that. Well that was a breath of fresh air. Most people just tended to become a pirate and reach One Piece while Jaune just decided against it. "Kid… do you know what you're saying? You're just saying you don't care about the Pirate King or what the era was based off of"_

 _"…_ _Not like I'm insulting the guy… I just don't want to become a King of the Pirates or something… heck a few weeks ago I didn't even want to become a pirate. I just want to see the world, meet people and make friend… like a family… you know?"_

 _"…_ _I see… you know you remind me of what my teacher told me long ago… he was a man that respected the man despite the name. More so, he was someone who respected Roger and Shanks… but there was someone he respected more than them both combined" he said as Jaune was interested. "Of all the pirates, there is one man that stands before them all."_

 _"…_ _Who's that?" Jaune asked as Neo was a bit interested at well… never hearing about the man Ryos trained under as he smirked._

 _"_ _Out in the sea… there is a man named Edward Newgate… otherwise known as Whitebeard" he said as Jaune blinked. Whitebeard… he remembered hearing about him from Miles._

 _The strongest man in the world… a Yonko… someone who would be the Pirate King if he actually tried to become it…_

 _He never knew much about him other than what was in the name and reputation but he did learn one thing from Miles… Whitebeard was a man of great influence of the New World and many pirates wanted his head. He commanded a large fleet and could rival even the likes of Gol D. Roger and the Marine Hero: Garp the Fist._

 _"_ _People in South Blue may think of him as an old man and a famous pirate… but they don't know just how terrifying he actually is. He… is seen as a monster and an old man but is considered the greatest man in the world to others. When my teacher was in the marines, he encountered the man himself… his ship not having a chance to win. But then when he did some digging while being retired, he went to his terratories and tried to get some information on him. He said things that people called insane."_

 _A great man_

 _A marvelous pirate_

 _A hero_

 _A guardian_

 _A father_

 _"_ _Whitebeard is a man that inspires others… and has the biggest heart of any pirate in the world. He never cared about treasure or becoming the best of the best… he cared about one thing more than even his life…"_

 _"_ _And what was that?" Jaune asked as Ryos smiled. One word would change everything, setting into action what would become the man behind the Remnant Pirate's captain._

 _"_ _All he cared about… was family."_

* * *

Thinking back to the man known as Whitebeard, Jaune smirked, thinking that was the kind of pirate he wanted to become… he didn't care about the One Piece but if he and Neo were both in this together then they should hopefully be able to start their family…

Alright, he should have probably thought the wording on that one a bit more clearly. Still, he and Neo both deserved to find some happiness, and with that being said he decided to wait until they reached land, wondering what kind of people they would meet next. However, as he thought about the people he was hoping to meet, a small feeling was bubbling up in his chest, a familiar one he had faced more often then ever when he first arrived on Dusk Island.

He was homesick, he hoped that the others were alright without him, the uncertainty in the situation making it worse as he would still think about how he would spend his times at Beacon, and clearly it was to say Neo somewhat felt the same, despite not being able to see it himself, her eyes proved that she was worried for her uncle she looked up to.

He wouldn't blame her, his own family being something he wished to see again… his sisters, his parents, his old friends that were probably on their way to become huntresses and huntsmen as he speak. Not only that… but he would honestly miss their small arguments he had with his own team and Team RWBY such as pancakes were better than cookies… if he recalled correctly they settled that with some kind of board game…

And Blake and Ruby took it too far… as well as Nora…

Point being, those days were gone now, all he had to do was carry those memories and head to the future. Gazing into the horizon, he mentally prepared himself while Neo just went back to he book, a bored expression as she decided to re-read one of the chapters that talked about the so called Calm Belt… not looking forward to the sea-kings there by any means-

"Huh… hey, Neo… I see land!" Jaune shouted out as Neo paused and looked to where he captain was pointing, a small island, and most likely Umi Island was in the distance. "Ready to go, Neo" he asked as Neo placed her book away as the huntress followed her partner.

As she looked at the island, she was happy to land and get some actual food and sleep in an actual inn. She could maybe actually take a shower there as well. As the two headed to the island, both were unaware of the upcoming battle that awaited them.

* * *

Meanwhile, a woman walked towards a small cave by the beach, her body littered with bandages and her form a bit bruised up from the attacks she had suffered from the inhabitance of the island, her coal and pupil less eyes having a distant look as she trudged into the cave with a bag of food in her arms.

"Um… Amachi?" she called out as a man with a small smirk and silver hair donning his head with black eyes observing the woman before he welcomed her.

"Isaribi… nice to see you back so soon, I hope you're ready for tomorrow night?" he asked as Isaribi said nothing, looking away before nodding her head. "This boat is going to contain several pounds of gold, worth well over twenty-million Belli" he said as Isaribi nodded.

Because that's what they needed to be cured what she needed him to have to cure her of her ailment, remembering the glares, the hatred, the bounty hunters after her and wanting to kill her over something that Vegapunk had done to her. Amachi promised he would help her… she was all she really had.

And after tomorrow, if he was right, then things would finally be set straight… she would finally be free from her curse.

She could finally have acceptance.

* * *

 **Alright so cut and I have to say that this turned out a whole lot different than how I expected it to, but hopefully this was a good enough means of Neo and Jaune forming a partnership. Might seem out of character but they were both alone, both lost their lives, family, friends and dreams so in the end, they really do only have each-other to some degree.**

 **Now with that being said, comments and advice as well as criticism are welcomed. More so that I decided to try to make it a bit longer than I probably need to in South Blue, I have some events I want to bring up and have an idea on how I want to bring in some of the characters that will eventually join the Remnant Pirates.**

 **Jaune and Neo are going to be similar to some degree, more like co-captains with Jaune being the main captain and Neo as his partner, as well as some other ideas coming up later on in the Grand Line.**

 **Finally for Jaune's crew in the South Blue… I might actually pick up a total of eight people before even getting to the Grand Line. And I already planned out possibly twenty five chapters before getting there but with what I want to put into them, I hope you enjoy each chapter, as well as I actually enjoy writing them. Until then, have a good day and thanks for reading**.


	7. Kaima: Isaribi

**Alright so here's the delayed chapter, sorry I haven't uploaded this in a while, I'm trying to get back into the other stories and recently just haven't felt like writing in a while. Either way, here's something I want to ask you after the chapter… until then, I hope you enjoy and I don't own One Piece, RWBY or anything else in this fan fiction, everything belongs to their respective owners.**

…

Jaune said nothing as he finally reached shore and jumped off of the small boat with Neo soon joining him a second later, both happy that they could finally have leg room and possibly a means to sleep in a bed and grab some food other than what they were forced to eat for the last few days. With Neo stretching her arms with a smirk, Jaune merely placed his hand on his sword's hilt and turned towards the small town in the distance. According to Ryos, this place had a marine base as well and without anyone to watch the ships and their recent-acquired infamy, docking into the town directly would have been one heck of a mistake.

"So, what do you want to do first?" Jaune asked the pink and brown eyed woman, who merely smirked and placed her hand on her stomach, Jaune just shrugging and guessing she was hungry, "we can find a place to eat then" he stated with Neo silently nodding at him and walking towards town with him trailing behind with a bit of hunger himself.

Umi Island was a small island with a smaller marine base than the one back on Palma, so the two of them should have no real trouble if they kept their guard up and laid low, Neo was able to do that with her illusions while he was able to remain a face in the crowd, his time growing up with several sisters, his time in Beacon, he was nothing around an amazing prodigy like Ruby or Pyrrha, he was just a guy who after training with Pyrrha for a while, wasn't dead last anymore.

But that was then and with people who expected the best of the best while now he was purposely being hunted, he could only imagine just how much attention he would have gotten if he could do Rokushiki back in Beacon, or worse, ate a Zoan Devil Fruit.

He could literally be a nightmare in Atlas but a means of interest in Menagerie or worse, the White Fang themselves. Shaking his head, he just needed to focus on what he had right now, and right now he-

"Hold it" a voice called out as he and Neo both froze and directed their attention to the direction of the voice, looking towards one another, they both nodded and went to check it out, upon reaching a clearing, Jaune and Neo were treated to a sight, a woman with some burses and bandages wrapped all around her was on her knees with an older couple glaring at her with clear distain and hatred.

The woman merely looked away and tried to get up before the woman grabbed an apple from one of the few brown bags on the ground and threw it at the purple haired woman with a snarl. "You don't belong here, you freak!" she called out as Jaune and Neo looked at one another while nodding, agreeing to watch to see what was happening.

"I… I don't want trouble, leave me alone!"

"Shut it, you damn monster!" the man cried out in disgust and to her horror and the Remnant Pirate's disgust, watched as he pulled a pistol. Alright, now things were escalating and all bets were off as Jaune nodded to Neo and used Soru to race down the, grabbing the man's wrist and forcing it away from the injured woman and aimed it at the trees, the sound of the bullet being propelled and a thunderous explosion resonating throughout the area as the woman merely turned her head slowly at the couple, seeing Jaune standing there, his glare matching the man's before the woman spoke up.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be, are you with her?" she demanded as Jaune said nothing and forced the man to drop the gun before delivering a punch to his stomach, seeing him collapse on the ground before turning to the woman, ignoring her screams of horror as she saw her eventual husband being taken down.

"Alright, get him into town and get out of here" he said before turning to the bandaged woman, who was still staring at the scene in shock, not expecting someone to help save her before Jaune walked up to her, holding out a hand, "You alright?" he asked as the woman said nothing. However, seeing her expression turn to horror, Jaune used Tekkai and endured the bullet aimed at his head, the fiancé of the man he knocked unconscious now trying to shoot him.

…Maybe he kind of deserved that, he didn't know the story here but he didn't like the idea of seeing someone just outright murder someone, it was the reason he only knocked the man out. Before she could shoot at the blond captain some more, she was disarmed by Neo, who merely shot her in the shoulder and forced her to drop her gun before the huntress herself walked up to her and without hesitation, kicked her in the head, having her join her husband in blissful unconsciousness.

…At least she didn't kill her, thankfully keeping to their whole, only kill when you need to agreement, now if only he took in consideration her stabbing, shooting, burning, paralyzing, possibly mentally scarring her victims for life and anything else Neo could potentially do, all she needed to do was make sure they still possibly had a pulse and she was good, and best of all he already paid her for her word so she already technically won.

"…Thanks Neo" Jaune said as Neo silently nodded before joining him, Jaune and the woman now standing up and Jaune getting a better look of her, her hair in pig tails that fell in front of her ears with black eyes that lacked any pupils, a somewhat tattered blue tunic blouse and matching tabi socks with brown shorts and a yellow sash around her waist. "…Um, I'm Jaune and this is Neo" he introduced but frowned slightly when she seemed to have glared at him.

"…Why did you help me?" she asked with a tone of cautious, clearly not trusting him, or Neo for that matter. Neo said nothing, clearly not really caring if she made friends today while Jaune seemed a bit hurt at the tone but smiled nonetheless.

"Because I wanted to" he said as she frowned and went to some of the bags that were littered on the ground, apparently she was going shopping before she was attacked, taking only one bag, she merely left before muttering what seemed to be thanks and heading into the forest. As Jaune and Neo both stared at her, Jaune just sighed, well… maybe he messed up after all. Looking at Neo, he was hoping to see her give him some support, instead she merely ignored him and moved towards the unconscious bodies before patting them down, and maybe they had some money on them?

…

As the woman continued to walk into the forest, she reached a small house and frowned, having been driven out a few days ago after they discovered her true form. Entering the house, she merely locked the door and placed the bag on a nearby table before sitting on a chair around it, her mind running through several thoughts, who the heck were they to help her? Or better yet, what reason was there for them to help a stranger like her, she could clearly see that the woman didn't really care but that blond swordsman seemed to generally care, it was… different from how Amachi would talk to her at times, he seemed distant lately while this John person seemed to generally care.

Soon her thoughts were interrupted by Amachi himself, entering the house with a spare key and turned to her curiously. "You seemed troubled, Isaribi… did something happen?" he asked her as Isaribi merely said nothing as Amachi frowned. "You were caught… but you escaped, un-followed I hope" he stated and a bit nervous as Isaribi nodded, not having seen the two newcomers follow her.

"I'm alright, Amachi… just thinking" she said as Amachi merely nodded before pulling out a group of fliers he got recently and with a small smile on his face.

"Apparently some huge news happened at a nearby island a few days ago, two pirates are around the area… dangerous ones as well" he said before placing a stack of papers on the table and smiling at her. "Here are their bounties, some of them are minor and possibly easy targets while others could be a problem" he stated before Isaribi merely looked at him confused.

"You want me to avoid these people?" she asked as Amachi nodded as she merely went through the pages, Amachi merely remaining stoic while Isaribi however just looked through them before her eyes honed in on her own and tears threatened to escape, her own bounty just for being considered a monster…

 _Dead or Alive:_

 _Kaima:_

 _10,000,000_

She was soon supported by the other occupant in the room as he merely tried to cheer her up, the picture being of a fish-like creature, not of a woman. "It's alright, Isaribi, no matter what happens now, soon you will be free of your burden, you can be normal once again… we just need more time"

"And how much time do we have left, Amachi… I… I don't think I can take much more…" she cried out before she got up from the chair and left the room with tears in her eyes while Amachi merely followed her, ignoring the fallen fliers she dropped as the once right under hers was the person who just saved her life.

…

"And you sure they're in here?" a man said as two others nodded with salutes as the older man merely nodded, not believing his run of bad luck. Between the Kaima running around, he now has to deal with a group of pirates. Entering the small bar, the marine captain merely looked around, gaining the attention of the occupants that now looked at him with shock and confusion before he narrowed his eyes at a lone man eating some pumpkin pie.

"We still need a navigator, and a bigger ship, not to mention a doctor and a possible shipwright" he muttered as the marine captain coughed into his hand, trying to get his attention, however it was ignored, "Then again we should really have to get a bigger boat as soon as we can, maybe after we have a navigator and one or two more people…"

"Hey, I'm talking to you, Blondie!" the captain shouted as Jaune turned around and saw two guns pointed at him while the captain merely smirked. "…So, you're Jaune Arc? I was expecting something… more" he said as Jaune himself frowned, judging by his appearance, the guy was most likely the marine captain, oh great… he didn't even do anything to warret suspicion so how was he found in what, about or so three hours?

"…I am" he admitted before the marine captain smirked.

"Well then, I Captain Donadigo here by place you under areest, for yor crimes against the World Government" he stated as Jaune merely looked at him for a few seconds before turning back to the bartender, who was now a bit more scared of him than he was before.

"Hey, do you have any more pie?" he asked as he wanted to have another slice while not so subtly ignoring the marine captain behind him, much to everyone's shock. Soon enough, Donadigo voiced his irritation to the entire bar.

"Hey, didn't you hear me, I'm bringing you in!" he shouted, not pointing a gun at the blond himself as Jaune merely kept his back turned and replied a bit annoyed.

"I heard you, so what?" he asked as everyone looked at him confused. "You expect me to just leave and waste the food I paid for, come back in an hour or something and let me finish eating" he complained as the bar just stared at him before the captain reached for him, turned him around and glared at him in his face.

"You're a funny man, Silver Blade… you think that just because you're some kind of pirate you can do whatever you want?" he asked as his brown eyes met Jaune's blue ones as Jaune merely smirked.

"Actually I think it's called common courtesy" he said before the captain merely went to punch him, only to hit his aura enhanced Tekkai as Jaune held himself up with a small smile.

"Look, I'm hungry, let me and Neo eat before we have the same old song and dance-" he said before he was grabbed and thrown out of the bar, much to everyone's shock as they were prepared to run, all but Neo, who was watching the show with a smile.

"You won't get away, Silver Blade, a bastard like you shouldn't be allowed to roam free… not after the things you did on Palma Island!" he shouted as he pulled out his sword. "Now surrender and return that sword you stole" Donadigo demanded as Jaune frowned.

"…Sword I stole, what are you talking about?" he asked, actually confused as Donadigo snarled.

"Don't play dumb with me, we were told and have eye-witnesses to your crimes… murdering a marine captain and stealing his blade" he started off as Jaune's frown deepened, apparently the marines were the ones that gave the reports and tried to demonize him more that he thought, considering what he heard about Ohara and the White City with the lead disease…

"The sword was a gift-" he tried to say but was interrupted.

"Destruction of a town and worse yet, sexual assault on a woman" he finished as Jaune said nothing at that and just stared silently before finally, he found his voice.

"…I'm sorry, what?" he asked out as the marine captain kept his glare on the former student of Beacon and spat on the ground between them.

"We have reports of you trying to force yourself on a woman in a destroyed house in front of several marine bystanders-"

"Bullshit!" Jaune shouted out in actual anger, he might have killed a marine captain and possibly several others, be an outright ass at times and even had a small breakdown and swear rant on Little Moss but there was no way in the seas, Remnant or in Hell he was a damn rapist He didn't even know what he was talking about, he never tried to have sex with anyone, the only thing even remotely close to that was when he and Neo fought and she… kissed him… after he… pegged her…

Oh shit

Those bastards changed it up to make him seem like some kind of sexual predator or something, hell technically it was Neo who came onto him so she should have been labeled with that, but he would have assumed the marines were overly pissed that he technically lead a coup against them so what better way to get back at him was there to lie about something like that.

Soon he heard the different cries from the area and the different names and complaint about him from the other villagers.

"Sick bastard"

"He's a monster"

"Hang the hoodlum"

"Take him down, Captain Donadigo"

"Demon"

"Horrible"

"Criminal"

"Rapist"

'Thank you, Neo' Jaune thought as he heard that last comment come from his ever-loving and loyal first mate, who merely wanted to increase his suffering for her entertainment. Grabbing his sword, he merely prepared to fight as Donadigo prepared to take him down. As they both started to fight, they were unaware of a woman watching the scene in interest as a snake coiled around her waist as she could tell there was more to the blond swordsman than met the eye, she didn't even need to see him fight to tell he could use haki, much less see that he was skilled enough to hold his own.

Looking at the direction of the last commenter, she could easily recognize her as the infamous Harlequin, apparently she was clearly pushing most of the attention on her partner so she didn't have to fight, and seeing the blond swordsman take on the marines was one hell of a show to say the least. Perhaps… he might be able to help her with the whole Kaima incident after all…

As Jaune delivered a punch into the captain's torso, everyone in the bar quickly ran out of it while Jaune just calmly walked back in, ignoring the screams and finding his spot before wordlessly finding his chair and ungracefully slamming his arms and head on the table with a loud sigh, Neo joining him with a small frown, hoping he was still alright.

"did you have to call me a rapist, Neo" he moaned out as Neo had the decency to at the very least blush a bit, honestly she was hoping he didn't recognize her voice. Moaning once more, Jaune just let out a small whine, complaining about his "Crimes" against him while Neo joined him, patting his back in a comforting way, she knew he wasn't some sexual deviant… they would clear it up eventually, just some stupid marines trying to demonize him, if they did that to him then she was probably in a similar boat herself.

After a minute, Neo just smiled and decided to reach over and grab another slice of pie, handing it to the other aura user, who merely took it and began trying to finish his ruined lunch before they heard a voice behind them.

"Have to say, that was one hell of a show you put on there" a woman said, her violet hair reminding him of the other woman they met before but was instead tied in a spiky ponytail instead and similar but brown pupil-less eyes, a tan overcoat, a pair of sandals, a dark-orange mini skirt… and had a snake coiling around her. "Silver Blade: Jaune Arc… and the Harlequin: Neo" she said as Jaune just moaned.

"Neo… tag in" he said, not wanting to fight and just eat as the woman just laughed.

"Calm down, I'm not looking for a fight, but if you want to dance sometimes… I think I can play with you for a bit" she said as Neo blinked, was she flirting with Jaune?

Jaune said nothing as he just sighed, might as well get this over with. "What do you mean you don't want to fight?" he asked as the woman merely smiled.

"The name's Anko Mitarashi, and how about we make a little deal…" she said as Jaune and Neo looked at the woman curiously. A deal, what kind of deal?

…

"Kaima… you mean that rumor that was going around?" Jaune asked as he and Neo had followed the woman to a small campsite that she had outside the town, possibly the best place to be that wasn't by the water or in the place that Jaune and the marines had their little spat in.

"Yeah, it's true alright, but here's the thing about this, there's more than meets the eyes here… especially when it involved that bastard Amachi" Anko said while Neo, now wearing her ring, merely frowned.

"Amachi?" she asked out as Anko frowned and eventually sighed, might as well tell them everything then.

"I assume you know about doctor Vegipunk, right?" she asked as Jaune immedietly frowned at the name. He recalled him from his conversations with Miles back on Dusk Island. He was a scientist, the best of the best that was said to be above everyone else. That being said there was rumors of him and the Shichibukai named Bartholamew Kuma having a deal, apparently he heard rumors of something called Pacifista… he didn't know what that was per say but he knew one thing, that woman who sent him and Neo here, she had the Nikyu-Nikyu no Mi, and that made things much more confusing and suspicious than before.

"Now apparently, Vegapunk created some kind of formula that could alter something called the lineage factor, and apparently it was able to turn a human into a Fishman" she said as Jaune and Neo were both confused. A Fishman?

"What do you mean by that, Anko?" Jaune asked as she sighed.

"The Fishman Formula was created in hopes of both exploring the world as well as better communicating with the Fishman race, however it was seen as a taboo by the World Government and was a flawed experiment that had many of the subjects slowly go insane and lose their minds"

"So essentially it's like a mutation parasite?" Jaune asked, a bit scared at the thought of some kind of human-fish zombie that was out in the world. Neo spoke up next with a bit of concern in her voice.

"And this Amachi has a connection to something like that" she aked with narrowed eyes as Anko frowned.

"Amachi was a follower and co-scientist for Vegapunk, so safe to say he disappeared with the formula, one he's currently developing to perfect" she said as Jaune raised up a question.

"How do you know so much about this anyways?" he asked as Neo narrowed her eyes before Anko smirked a bit before taking out a headband with the marine symbol on it and smirked.

"Because I'm a mercenary for the marines, I was hired to help track down Amachi and take him in" she said as the other two stared at her with a disbelieving look. "that being said, here's what I need your help in, one of the people he used the formula on maintained her humanity, but as a result… lost her memories, Amachi has a silver tongue, he's manipulating her and making her believe that he will restore her to normal… I nearly cornered them the last time, but I was blindsided the last time… and lost them. Now I know where they are, but I don't know how many people Amachi kidnapped since then or how far he came to that formula."

"And you want us to help you fight him" Jaune said as Anko smirked.

"More or less, still here's the thing…" she said as she pulled out a picture and showed it to them, Jaune and Neo said nothing but their eyes widened when they realized who it was.

"That one girl…" Jaune muttered in shock as Anko nodded.

"Her name is Isaribi… the World Government is trying to cover it up and are killing anyone who had any connection to the project itself… you two are pirates, you could use more crew members, right. So here's the deal, you help me save her and take down Amachi, and then you gain a new member of your crew, I know you aren't some kind of predator or something, just help her live free"

"Why would you care though?" Neo asked her as Anko looked at the other woman as they both glanced at one another. The silence was thick, Jaune saying nothing before Anko finally spoke up.

"I have my reasons… so, you two in?" she asked as Jaune stayed quiet for a moment before sighing.

"Alright, if Amachi is as dangerous as you say, if these rumors of the Kaima are true and…Isaribi, right?" he asked as Anko nodded as Jaune continued, "If Isaribi is being manipulated then I'll help, if Neo wants to she can as well but if this is a trick, if you try to betray us, then we're taking you down as well" he said as Anko, who should have felt insulted, just laughed.

He didn't trust all that easily but that was good, he cared about his partner it seemed. "Alright, deal… I sent Kabuto out a while ago so he should be back soon, until then, it's time to prepare."

…

 **And there we have the next chapter, so going back to what I was going to ask you guys, are you alright with me merging the chapters like I did or do you prefer the shorter ones, if you prefer me merging the smaller ones into larger chapters then I'll do it before I upload or if you like the smaller chapters like this one then I'll just keep them short and sweet, either way I hope you all had a good 4** **th** **of July and or just a good day in general and I'll see you later, again comments, thoughts and criticism are all welcomed.**


	8. Of Monsters and Beasts

**Alright, next chapter and like always, I do not own anything, Not One Piece, not RWBY, not Naruto, not anything, that being said, I was going to update this a bit earlier but between some minor writer's block on how I wanted to make this as well as me wanting to update other things and me starting writing the next chapter of Sennin no Arcades, Rewritten, yeah… moving on.**

 **That being said, hope you enjoy.**

…

"And you sure he's here?" Jaune asked as he was now with Neo, both of them on a small ship they borrowed with Anko who in turned nodded her head to them, the night time breeze was the only other noise apart from the waves as they approached a small cave by the village.

"Yeah, I sent Kabuto out here a while ago and this is where he found them, but just to let you know, me and Kabuto are going after Amachi, you guys need to handle the prisoners and whatever he had for bodyguards…" she said as Jaune nodded, not exactly liking this turn of events before Neo voiced her opinion.

"And what about the Kaima… err, Isaribi…" she asked, wondering what the woman herself was going to do, she doubt that she would just come quietly or anything but the violet haired woman merely smirked.

"Just try to distract her or try to reason with her… but if you really have a devil fruit then I think you should let your captain handle the fish people" Anko replied as Jaune mentally nodded. That was all well and good but if this Kaima Formula whatever it was-was really as dangerous as she made it out to be then how would they be able to "Restrain her" as the mercenary stated without much concern. They had a disadvantage; yeah he was sure he could handle his own against some fish people…

But handling himself while submerged underwater was an entirely different story altogether. Not only would he have to worry about the enemy that can hide in water he'd have to worry about his own supply of oxygen, not to mention the fact Neo was literally an immobile hammer if she fell waist deep in the seas.

It were the times like that made him glad he didn't eat his own devil fruit

Shaking his head, he just stared at the cave's entrance and crossed his arms as they slowly made their way inside. Jaune having his Kenbunshoku Haki on overdrive while they entered the belly of the beast with Neo having her Maimu-Maimu no Mi enhance the boat in a coating of sorts to avoid any ambushes that would sink them. Upon arriving to the other side of the cave and finding, to their surprise, a door, the three of them merely walked in and found themselves in a man-made of a hallway.

Three halls spread out before them, a hall in the middle that was a narrow pathway, Kabuto, Anko's partner snake hissing and dropping down to the floor, heading down the hallway as Anko smirked. "Guess Amachi's straight down the middle, I'll let you guys pick your own routes… according to Kabuto, he saw Isaribi head here before he came back."

'…Wait, she can understand the snake?' Jaune and Neo both thought to themselves as the mercenary ran down the middle corridor, leaving the two aura users alone. Looking at each other, Neo placed her ring in her back pocket and addressed Jaune with confusion, having agreed to help Anko for slightly different reasons, Jaune however merely smiled and nodded.

"Alright" he said, "I'll steal as much money and stuff as I can, just don't overdo it, we still need to save those that were kidnapped and deal with whatever's in here… so, I'll take the left corridor?" Jaune suggested as he brought his hand back behind his shoulder, pointing to the stairs leading down as Neo nodded her head and placed her hand on the handle of weapon of choice.

Nodding her head, she simply strolled down the pathway to their right, a small smile on her face as she slowly ascended the stairs with her boots being the only sound she made. Jaune however, merely sighed and walked down the stairs with his own weapon now freed and clutched in his hand as he decided to move, unaware that the door they all entered was slowly closing behind them.

…

Isaribi said nothing, looking down at the coves water in a larger area of their base of operations, sighing to herself, she wondered what she and Amachi were doing were right. Before her stood several bodies that were torn to shreds by Amachi's "Antidote" as he called it, she felt disgusted, she felt sick that she would have to work with him. He promised however, promised to return her to normal but this was…

She was sickened at what she saw…

…

 _As Isaribi said nothing, Amachi merely smiled a bit at his lab, looking over the data before he smiled at the thought of his newest progress. "So, what brings you here, Isaribi…? I thought I said I would have the antidote ready in a few days" he said as the woman nodded._

 _"_ _Amachi… rumors were spreading that… that people were vanishing, I know you tell me to raid the ships but you always told me you left the people on the beaches" she said before filing through something of her own. Taking out a piece of paper, similar to the wanted poster, Amachi frowned as he noticed that it was a missing person's poster._

 _"…_ _And what does a missing person have anything to do with this?" he asked, a bit annoyed that this was brought to his attention before Isaribi looked down._

 _"…_ _He was one of the people that I knocked unconscious on one of the raids, and not only that, no one from any of the raids made it back, you told me that they were placed on the beach" she said as Amachi said nothing as the silence slowly became filled with dread. "A-Amachi-"_

 _"_ _Tell me, Isaribi… you wanted to become normal, correct?" he asked as Isaribi said nothing as he looked to her with a small glint in his eyes, "It's true that I can make an antidote but that doesn't mean it will work entirely… in order to complete the antidote I need to fully test it on others that have been infected with the Kaima Formula" he admitted as Isaribi froze in horror._

 _Others...? There were others?!_

 _"_ _It's true that I kept this a secret, but you have to understand, that this is the only way to be precise, if the formula mutated than the antidote would have no effect, that's why I have been taking those blood samples, have been monitoring any mutations and why I have been injecting it into others. Don't you see, if we don't find a means to isolate and if we don't find a means to find that one variable, then you and anyone else infected will remain in their Kaima forms forever, it's already spreading, isn't it?"_

 _Isaribi looked away and placed her hand on her shoulder, the bandages hiding her scales as she shivered at the thought of becoming a permanent fish woman. Amachi merely smiled however. "Isaribi… this is important-"_

 _"_ _Its… it's wrong, it's just like Vegapunk, they shouldn't need to be forced to become a monster like me-" she tried to say with tears in her eyes before Amachi spoke up._

 _"_ _It's necessary. It's needed to fully make sure that we can create an antidote, think of how many lives we can save since the World Government is hunting anyone with the formula in them-"_

 _"_ _But it's ruining that many more, is it truly needed, do those people have to become monsters like me?" she asked as Amachi merely sighed. Turning away from her, Isaribi merely left as the closed door behind her echoed in the room, Amachi shaking his head in annoyance, the pawn was starting to become rebellious, if that was the case…_

…

As she looked down at the corpses, Isaribi could only fall to her knees as their expressions of horror were permanently etched on their faces, was this really necessary, was this truly morally right. Looking at the rotting bodies, imagining her in their places, imagining their families and friends worrying about them…

And it was her fault for blindly trusting him. Before she could say anything, she heard someone coming down the stairs, looking back and getting up, she expected to see Amachi like she always had, however her black eyes meet blue ones as her face twisted from shock, to horror and to slight recollection of the man who helped her out earlier that day.

"…So she was right…" Jaune muttered as he felt his own degree of shock, seeing the scales on her face, arm and leg as he looked at her in certainty. "You are a Kaima…"

…

Neo meanwhile was running up the stairs as she reached a room that resembled that of a prison cell with several people laying down or sitting against the wall as she frowned at the sight. While she normally wouldn't care much about the place, or the fact that they were held in a cage like a bunch of animals, the fact that she had to break down three heavily locked iron doors were annoying. Anko mentioned this place was a fortress at one point, she could believe it.

"What the, who the heck is that?" a man cried out as Neo simply walked towards them with her eyes shifting colors and a silence grace in each step.

"Is she a new guard?" a woman asked as another man blushed.

"She's hotter than the fish monsters, that's for sure" he muttered as Neo scanned the cage and placed her ring back on, honestly annoyed she needed to keep wearing the small stone piece of jewelry to communicate to those who didn't understand sign language.

"Alright, is every prisoner in the fortress here?" she asked in a business like tone as the others were confused, some of them shrugging and others nodding. Good enough she supposed… "Stand back and don't complain" she said again before reaching for her umbrella and channeling her aura through it before slashing at the bars, slicing through them without any trouble. As the bars and the door fell, she merely sheathed he weapon back into her parasol like container as the prisoners gawked at her in disbelief.

"…Well, what are you all waiting for, an invitation, get the hell out of here and stop wasting my time" she said bluntly before the people all realized what had happened, between the open cage and the destroyed doors, everyone shook in intense emotion before cheering and running out the now opened cage and doors, leaving the huntress to her own devices.

'…That seemed to turn out better than I thought-' she thought before she heard something approaching her and instinctually, jumped out of the way to avoid the oncoming stream of water aimed at her. Glaring at the source, her annoyance turned into shock as before her was a creature resembling what she heard about Isaribi.

It's olive-green skin with viridian scales all over the other parts of the body while at the same time it's coal colored and dilated eyes narrowed in on the huntress, growls and moans from the infected man was the only means of communication from the zombie-like monster, one that was once a marine if the shirt that was tattered was any indication.

Taking off the sea-stone ring, Neo merely frowned, oh well, she was hoping for a fight anyways, back on Palma, she admitted she was rusty, so hopefully a monster like this could help her get in shape. And with that being said, she stood her ground and unfolded her umbrella, ready to fight.

…

Anko said nothing as she reached a door and smirked, channeling some of her own haki in her foot before kicking down the door. She was welcomed with the sight of a laboratory and a man in a lab coat frowning at her as she merely glared at him in response. "There you are, Amachi" she said with venom drenching her tone as Amachi merely kept his frowned.

"…Should have known you would have followed me, just what do you expect to do now?" he asked as Anko merely smirked.

"It's simple, isn't it? I'm going to take you down and bring you in" she said as she pulled out a small kunai with a lick of her lips, her blood thirst coming to the surface as Amachi merely shook his head.

"Take me in, a foolish little brat like you?" he asked as if he was amused. "The last time you tried you couldn't hold us, and now this is no different…" he boasted as the mercenary prepared to fight, really now? Because from what she saw, he was just a man who was all bark and no bite…

Amachi merely smirked before pulling out a syringe, the green liquid being held in it tightly before he slammed the needle into his neck and his eyes took on a red glow.

…

The silence was heavy as Jaune stared at Isaribi as she glared at him with caution and distain. Looking at her, she slowly fell into a fighting stance as Jaune placed his sword back into his sheath, "What are you doing here?" she demanded as he merely looked at her.

"I'm not here to fight you" Jaune said as he placed his arms in his pockets and relaxed a bit, reading himself to have to evade an attack if she rushed him. Her narrowed eyes remained on him in confusion, how did he get here, how was he able to find this place and was he alone, and just who was he?

Jaune… she vaguely remembered a name to the face but that didn't mean she could trust him. "I don't believe that! What are you really here for?" she demanded as Jaune said nothing and sighed.

"…I'll be honest with you, I know a bit about the whole Kaima Formula thing that you were given" he said as she narrowed her eyes even more and took a step back, how on earth did she know about that? "And… " he trailed off with a sigh, not the best on talking about this to a woman who would most likely attack him if he said the wrong thing… or even said the right thing… or just not even talk, she could attack him no matter what now that he thought about it but shrugged that thought off.

"…Well?" she asked as she grew impatient as Jaune merely decided to get straight to the point.

"…I want to help you, or at least know why you're attacking ships and kidnapping people?" he said as Isaribi snarled a bit in anger at the kidnapping quip, but was it really right for her to deny that, she knocked them unconscious… some of them, she killed on accident, Amachi told her not to worry but she still had nightmares about that.

"…You, want to help me… why should I trust you? How could you help me?" she asked, in a loud voice that echoed in the room as she waited for his excuse as he merely kept neutral the whole conversation through.

"…Why should you trust Amachi?" he asked as she froze while he got up and crossed his arms, "You, don't seem like a bad person, and I doubt you would purposely do these things without reasons, so I just want to know, why?" he explained as she didn't say anything, still not trusting him, she had questions for him as well.

"Answer some of my questions first, then I'll see if I can trust you" she said as Jaune was a bit taken aback but slowly he nodded his head in acceptance, not like he was going to lie to her or anything. "How did you get here, this place is a secret?"

"Yeah… apparently I got wrapped up with someone who wanted answers and had proof of you being a Kaima… she kind of told me a bit about Amachi… and some things about him weren't exactly good-"

"What, who… someone else is here with you?!" she shouted out in shock while interrupting the blond haired pirate as Jaune flinched at the shriek the woman let out, nursing his ears, he just moaned a bit.

"Y-yeah… someone named Anko-and before you even think it, I'm just here to find out what's going on!" he said, not telling her about his promise and playing it off as a bit vague, Miles told him play it vaguely and play it calmly, something he had trouble doing when trying to dodge the four-teen hundred or so pound wild boar that tried to kill you.

"Anko… whose that?" she demanded as Jaune frowned.

"Someone with a grudge against Amachi, now let's move it to just what where you doing with that ship you stole… or better yet, who the hell are they?" he asked as he finally noticed the dead bodied before him that laid behind Isaribi as she looked away before eventually starting to talk.

…

The sounds of battle echoed in the room as Neo jumped back and silently glared at the creature that stood in her path, behind it was around three on the ground and bleeding out while she was somewhat enjoying this, the battle was making her get back into shape and best of all, they kept coming after she took one out, she felt bad about them but if they were reduced to be mindless zombies then killing them was a cruel kindness.

But she still felt a bit angry at the thought of someone turning people into these fish-like monsters, she was an assassin, killing was her job and sometimes when they got too annoying or kept getting in the way she would kill them with a smile on her face, she was a monster herself but she always did so out of self-defense or to keep herself or Roman alive.

It was kill or be killed, and she was a survivor, simple as that, still Jaune was still naïve to that in a sense, only having to kill when he felt he needed to, she hoped he grew out of that a bit more and just accepted that people kill others to survive. But she would admit that saving others was a decent end to a battle…

Oh great, she really was getting soft.

As she side-stepped the monstrous Kaima's rush, she merely caught it's leg with a spinning kick of her own, knocking it down before turning her blade in her hand and stabbing the monster through the skull, ending it with one swift movement. At least her reflexes weren't all that hindered in the last three years, but as she thought about the whole thing, why was she so easy to accept this life?

She agreed to go along with Jaune because he was the only one from Remnant she knew of, meanwhile he was heading into the Grand Line, he was going to be exploring what laid beyond the South Blue, perhaps it was because of acceptance or excitement that she dealt with him as long as she did, normally she would have probably ditched him or killed him just to escape his presence, but she could tolerate him.

Still, his semblance seemed strange, why was she so focused on him anyways, she had work to do. Leaving the room as the people had already escaped, she was met with a sight that seemed to confuse her, Anko's pet snake, Kabuto, was slithering up to her and it looked like it was going to die soon, Before she could even make heads or tails of it, the sound of the wall being broken as something was forced through, turning around and narrowing her eyes at the next opponent, Neo found herself faced with Anko holding her arm and the moving her hand up to her dislocated shoulder, just how was this guy able to break through her haki?

Meanwhile, a creature slipped out of the hole with a smirk as Neo narrowed her sights directly on the beast, this one… this one was different than the others, it was more animalistic than them, more… primal and yet more developed.

"So, another snake to deal with, how annoying" he muttered as Neo felt her eyes widen a bit, this one… this one could talk!, and as soon as she knew it, the sounds of running water came in rushing by them as the beast merely allowed the lab and the room to be flooded, no longer needing it.

His pet could help him out, and with a maniacal grin, the creature laughed in exciting madness.

…

Jaune didn't say anything but he did look at her in pity, she was a victim and her words were sincere as she broke down when he mentioned how hard her life had to have been, causing her to snap at him before recalling events that made him further despise the World Government more than he seemed to do. He could sadly understand why but to just write the patients off, even those that weren't mad or lost to the after-effects of the formula…

Sighing, he just went up to her as he suddenly embraced her, trying to soothe the woman who had fully shifted into her full transformation, if felt a bit weird at first but he eventually just got used to it, in many ways, she reminded him of Velvet, someone who was bullied by Cardin and could have defeated him and his entire team without any hesitation. Yet while Velvet never hated being a Faunus, and was actually very proud of it since her family was one of the few that fought in the Faunus Rights Revolution from what Blake had informed him when he had to do a project on the subject for Oobleck's class, he could see that Isaribi despised it.

"You aren't a monster, you know that, right?" he said as he still tried to soothe her, having her shiver in his arms as he let go. "…I, I don't know what I can say to make you feel better but you aren't a monster."

"You're wrong, look at me, I'm not human, and I'm a freak, a monster-"

"But you're not a beast!" Jaune shouted, interrupting her as she froze while Jaune narrowed his eyes and frowned, memories flashing back to him.

…

 _Jaune felt sick as he thought he was going to vomit and felt numb as he looked at a corpse with a hole in its chest, his arm covered in blood as a crushed heart fell from the former Beacon student's hand and he felt fear course through him, he killed him, Jaune actually killed him. A few pirates had arrived on the island and thought they could do what they wanted on the island; Miles however decided to have this be a test, a small exam, a trial by fire._

 _Jaune had to duel the captain and in the end he won, stabbing him straight through the chest and ripping out his heart, his lifeless eyes looking at the wound that killed the pirate's life and his hand he used to do the deed was growing cold. Oh god, what… what the fuck did he just do!_

 _Miles however said nothing and sighed before placing a hand on the younger man, only a year and a half on the island and he had became a much better fighter than how he started out as a foolish idiot with a sword to swing… and that was something that Miles himself gave Jaune to better train him with. Eventually however, Miles voiced his thoughts._

 _"…_ _Jaune, it's alright-"_

 _"_ _I… I killed… I killed him…" Jaune muttered as Miles nodded, knowing just what it was like to kill others as his entire career in the marines and the CP9 to the eventual CP0._

 _"_ _Yes, you did" he said with no emotion as Jaune still shook and eventually fell to the ground and cried, feeling sick with himself for actually killing another person in cold blood, eventually Miles spoke up again, "You did a decent job but you're not a beast… or a monster, this was inevitable, Jaune-"_

 _"_ _Shut up… just… just-"_

 _"_ _Jaune" Miles said as he pulled him away from the body and then, to the blond swordsman's shock, he was enwrapped with a hug, someone trying to console him. As Jaune eventually calmed down the next day, Miles had talked to him about the world. What he said, he would never forget. "Jaune, what you did, you aren't a monster… no, you aren't a beast."_

 _"…_ _What?" he asked as Miles smiled sadly at him before pulling out something from a small chest, a remains of his past that he could never take back._

 _"_ _Jaune, they tried to kill you, right?" he asked as Jaune nodded, feeling uncomfortable as Miles continued, "This world, the world is not a kind place, there is darkness, there is rape, there is war, and then there is more than we ever hope to even try to understand, you killed that captain because you felt you had to?" he asked at that last part of the sentence, now a question._

 _"_ _But I didn't mean to" Jaune shouted as Miles quickly silenced him with some of his haki, his stern look facing the blond swordsman._

 _"_ _I know, but you need to understand, you did it to protect yourself, you did it to defend, whether or not you wanted to, you fought to kill because he fought to kill, but that doesn't make you a beast" he said as Jaune said nothing. "What makes one a murdering monster and a mindless beast, it's the reasons, the motives behind it I suppose" Miles said as he held out a mask, giving it to Jaune, it was pure white but had two black eyes with holes._

 _"_ _I told you I was in the marines, but never what type of marine I was, have you ever heard of Cipher Pol?" he asked as Jaune just looked at him confused and still a bit angry, of course he didn't know about a thing called Cipher Pol. "It is a good group of people with noble objections for research and Intel for the World Government."_

 _"_ _Like spies?" Jaune asked as Miles nodded before turning to him with a cold look, making Jaune flinch._

 _"_ _And then, there are people like me, the highest of the highest, the most secretive service and the biggest monsters in the world… the Cipher Pol Nine… and the Cipher Pol Zero" he stated as he gave of a cold chuckle, "I was among both of them, I was an assassin, and I killed on my orders, orders I never second guessed once in my life."_

 _"…_ _What?" Jaune muttered in shock as Miles gave a much calmer, warmer look towards him before looking away in shame. Then before Jaune could say anything else…_

 _"_ _It shouldn't have happened, those deaths, by our hands…" he muttered as he looked at Jaune with some small tears in his eyes before smiling. "I was a beast, I killed without reason except on orders, and even then they weren't just evil pirates that we faced yesterday, they were civilians, men, woman… even children" he said with venom, self-hating his sins from the past as Jaune just listened to him. "One day, I was called to perform a Buster Call and investigate a certain island, called Ohara" he said before explaining the events that transpired. Jaune however was many things…_

 _He was shocked, horrified, disgusted and finally, angry. What type of person really was Miles? He didn't know and he thought that he didn't want to know, what he said next however made him think. "Do you know why I left the marines?" he asked as Jaune made him answer, narrowed eyes on his teacher before Miles answered, "I left out of shame, I was promoted to CP0 after that, and that was even worse… the more I did missions, the more I felt ashamed, I killed an entire island, or at least I played a part in it, my actions were unforgivable… I hated myself, and when I couldn't take the nightmares… I wanted it to end" he said as he pointed to a scar by his heart._

 _Jaune had seen it before, but looking closer at it, he recognized it as something more than a simple scar, it was a bullet wound, and not one from any type of firearm. Did Miles…?_

 _Did Miles, his teacher… try to commit suicide?!_

 _"_ _I was filled with so much self-loathing, and then… when I thought I was going to die… I was saved by the very woman I was sent to kill" he said with heartache and a torn voice as Jaune stared at him. Eventually he got up and looked out the window and smiled sadly. "She… gave me a second chance… she was an angel, a guardian that I didn't deserve but she helped me, she trusted me and when she learned what my job was she forgave me and told me she wouldn't hold it against me. She was a nurse, no… a medic that would help others no matter who they were, she was a great person that could heal anyone with her skills, even the people that tried to overtake a country allied with the World Government that despised the World Nobles and that was reason for me to be sent there to kill her…"_

 _"…_ _Did you?" he asked as Miles looked at Jaune, the young man speaking up as he looked at him with interest as Miles frowned._

 _"_ _I didn't, I faked my death, and I had help from a friend or two in the marines, lazy bastard was someone who I could begrudgingly trust, even Sengoku and Garp were understanding to the situation, but when I faked my death and tried to fake hers as well… we married but when news got out to the higher ups about what truly happened, I was forced to fight my former allies. I had a great life with my wife, yet she died at their hands, and in my rage, I killed them… before I could kill myself, I realized that she didn't want me to end my life, and so I fled here…"_

 _"_ _She…?" Jaune asked as Miles smirked._

 _"_ _Her name… Valery, I met her in South Blue, and I never forget her" he said as he looked down and smiled. "Jaune, I was a beast, a monster, a killer and a undeserving piece of shit, but you are more than that, you might have killed, you might be seen as a monster or a killer, but you aren't a beast, you killed because to had to, you killed because you wanted to protect rather than destroy."_

 _"…_ _You're saying it's because I killed to protect myself, to protect that I'm not a monster?" he asked as Miles shook his head as a no, however he did say one thing that made Jaune smiled._

…

"I never really got it at first, but now I know what he meant, the world can call me a monster, a murderer and a nightmare worse than even the worst of the worst, but I won't be a beast if it means killing to protect others, whether it be the innocent, the friends and family I have and made here… or even myself. I will be a monster because I killed, but as long as I can save my friends and watch the people I love be happy and safe, and then I'll be the worst monster in the world."

Isaribi said nothing as she stared at him confused before he smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "If you're truly a monster as you say you are then I'm no better, monsters are born from actions they do by others, beasts are created from actions they do to others, but the difference is that a monster is still a human, while a beast forfeits their humanity. You're crying, you're shaking in fear, you can understand fear…" he said before he smirked.

"You're a monster, sure… but you aren't a beast… you're still human and that should be good enough, so if you want to-" he started to say before the sounds of the flooding water were heard and Jaune and Isaribi both turned to see the on-coming waves of ocean water flooding the room.

…

As the waters pushed out of the now flooded cave, Anko and Neo were both shot out as the violet haired woman held onto and helped the pink and brown haired assassin to the shore while cringing in pain at her dislocated shoulder, Amachi… that madman… he tried to kill everyone by flooding the entire cave system, she was fortunate enough to be where Neo was since the huntress was also an ability user, all while she was slowly being warned out. Kabuto hissed, weakly slithering in the waters as Anko got help to get both herself and Neo on one of the rocks that were sturdy by the cave as she made sure that the other woman was still alive.

*Cough, Cough*

"…Well, at least you're alive" Anko muttered as she looked at the woman slowly regaining her senses while Amachi himself soon approached the surface in his newly acquired Kaima form, his normally black and somewhat dilated eyes now much more serpentine, a red colored lens-like appearance and his normal teeth now sharp fangs resembling that or a northern, Anko glared at the mad scientist, he somehow improved the formula and took it himself.

"Heh, I have to say, Mitarashi… I'm impressed you're still strong enough to glare at me like that" he said with a smirk as he appeared to fight with a bloodlust aura around him as Anko got up and Kabuto slowly slithered up her leg and reached her shoulder, coiling it's long purple body around her waist as it chose to stay close to his partner.

"Y-you're insane, you know the side-effects of that damn elixir, and you know what will happen to you-" she shouted before Amachi interrupted her with a snarling yell.

"Quiet, you think I care, you think I truly care what I look like, you fool… you and the World Government and that foolish Vegapunk, how can you not see the brilliance of this formula, with it, I can… I will rule the seas. I'll become a leader of a new era, a leader of an army of my fish-men and with my greatest creation yet… I was hoping to finish it before I had to deal with you but once I return to the lab… once it's finally finished, not even the marines will be a threat to me. I'll rule the South Blue… and once I gain enough men under my control, the Grand Line will be mine and I will become the true ruler of all the seas."

Anko herself shivered at that, he was mad, and she doubt that the formula reached any side-effects to eat away at his remaining sanity yet. Neo however just slowly got up and looked at the Kaima before her, her eyes trained right on it while Anko was in no condition to fight, yet despite the dislocated shoulder, she was prepared to fight a possible losing battle. As she looked for her weapon, she found it floating next to the rock, Kabuto having grabbed it when they made their "Escape."

"Anko… can we win?" she asked as she examined her surrounding and thought about their chances of survival. According to Anko, Amachi was weaker than anything; he was a civilian at most. Yet here was that civilian, now a monster that looked at them with eagerness of a Grimm that cornered several injured humans or faunus. They were at a very deep disadvantage. Anko knew how to fight him and was the best in the water but she was injured from a dislocated shoulder, and from what she heard about her, she was not only someone who could use haki but someone who could fight.

And Amachi dislocated an entire shoulder without trying, meanwhile she was surrounded by water, instant death if she fell in while the man could swim and breathe in the stuff like he was a fish, no wait… he really was a fish by this point. The only one who could probably have a decent chance was probably her and Jaune, and he wasn't-

Oh shit, Jaune wasn't here, he was in the lower levels of the cave… panic formed in her eyes at the possible events that could have happened to her partner as Amachi merely swam to another rock in front of them while Neo was asking herself where the hell that blond dumbass was.

…

Jaune couched up some water as he was saved by Isaribi, who was holding his sword in her hand and looking at him in her human form. "w-what the hell… what just happened?" Jaune wheezed out from his near-drowning, remembering to have to thank the woman for the save back there. She could have just left him and he would have been another corpse in that room, he shivered at the thought of that while Isaribi looked at him concerned.

"…I-I don't know what happened. The cave just flooded and I thought we weren't going to make it" she muttered as Jaune moaned, he was soaked; he was startled… his mouth had a strange aftertaste in it, and it didn't really taste like sea water. In fact it kind of reminded him of when Neo… alright, he got what happened now.

"Thanks for the CPR, Isaribi" he said as the woman blinked and blushed a bit, she just wanted to make sure he was alright, when they swam to the top, he was unconscious. "We need to find the others" he said with a serious look on his face. Neo can't swim and with the cave flooded and the possible nut job out there, he didn't want to think about what happened to his partner. Isaribi nodded her head before she dived back in the water, looking at the swordsman with his blade now back in its owner's possession.

"I'll try to find them in the cave, I can't leave Amachi out there either" she said as she gave a worried look at the huntsman. "You… you can swim, right?" she asked as Jaune jumped into the air and used Gepo to stay suspended as he glanced around the area trying to see if he found anyone. Suddenly, he spotted two dots… wait, make that three.

"I think I see them over there!" Jaune shouted down to her as he pointed at the direction the others were at as Isaribi just gawked at the act before her… Just how in the world was he flying?

Landing back on the rock, he channeled his aura into his body and a small white glow appeared before it slowly started to turn a dark blue. And before Isaribi knew what happened, Jaune leaped out towards the other side of the submerged cave at a fast pace as Isaribi, slowly turning into her own Kaima form, just looked on in disbelief.

'…What the heck is with that guy?' she thought before swimming at fast as she could to catch up with him.

…

As Amachi grinned, Anko and Neo frowned as the pink haired woman clearly was unhappy with her situation. Unable to use her far-distance abilities from the sea water still soaking her, she prepared to fight regardless, her illusions being prepped in hopes of counter attacking. Before she could conjure one however, she looked towards a nearby rock before seeing a figure crash into it with a loud boom and smoke from the impact in the air. Amachi turned to the other rock with narrowed eyes as Anko blinked, confused over the newcomer before the smoke faded, and Jaune coughed.

"Err…, alright, I need to work on that" he muttered, irritated that he still had trouble landing when he used his semblance to speed up his use of Gepo. Oh gods how did Miles make it look easy? Looking at the others, he noticed Anko and Neo staring at him before the later just shook her head, well… she'd give him points for dramatic entrance but that was it. Meanwhile, Anko quirked an eyebrow, she would have commented on his arrival if Amachi didn't first.

"Another one, I'm getting a bit annoyed with this, are there anymore little vermin you're going to call?" he asked with a bit of a taunting tone as Jaune looked at the scientist in confusion.

"What the, hey… I thought you said Isaribi was the only fish-person here?" he asked as Anko regained her senses.

"Hey, don't be fooled… that's not Isaribi, that's Amachi. That bastard took some kind of modified formula and became that thing" she warned as Jaune turned to the fish-man and narrowed his eyes to try and get a better view. His eyes widened in shock when he realized she was right, not only that but he merely swam to a rock of his own and showed them all his true appearance, he was like Isaribi but with more fish features and before Jaune could do anything, the scientist spat out a ball of pressurized water, making Jaune block it with his sword. Despite that however, he flinched as the water pressured bullet exploded to make contact with his body, his aura blocking it but the fact that the small water ball could explode on contact wasn't something he expected.

"You alright… Jaune…?" Neo called out to him as Jaune said nothing and swung his blade down, a Rankyaku sent at the scientist that he merely waved off. Now this was something that made Jaune stop and stare in some minor surprise, that might not have been a strong variation of his strongest move of the Rokushiki but the Rankyaku was still essentially a blade of energy…

And Amachi brushed it off like it was nothing.

"You seemed shocked, or perhaps you just realized what this means, I'm beyond an ordinary human now, I'm ascended past to a form that even a fish-man would be unable to rival. This formula in my body does more than give me some scales and gills, it modified my body to ten… no, one hundred times it's natural limits" he boasted as Jaune frowned and readied his sword again.

Neo however narrowed her eyes at that last statement, so he was a weakling with a power multiplier that was unnerving to say the least. Before she or Anko could say anything however, Jaune spoke up. "You took the formula that made Isaribi a monster, didn't you tell her you were going to cure her, those raids and all those fish-men, you killed others by injecting them with that mutated formula and told her it was for the cure?!" he asked before Amachi just laughed at that.

"Curse her, don't be foolish… I can't cure her, there is no cure!" he said, amused by the fact that he thought he was going to cure that emotionally wrecked woman. "This Formula does more than just turn you into a Kaima; it mutates your entire Lineage Factor. It's no different than eating a devil fruit and not even death will change that. She wants to be normal; she's just a hope-filled woman who was easily manipulated over the impossible. She had her use… but I want to know something, just how exactly you know about the other subjects and the cure?" he asked as Jaune said nothing before his eyes looked away from him.

"You really don't care about her at all; she meant nothing to you…" he muttered before he channeled his aura and his semblance into his blade before he jumped in the air with an expression of rage. "Get away, now!" he shouted as he swung his blade down and a yellow wave in the form of an arc was sent at the scientist.

"Rankyaku: Ierōāku!" he shouted before Amachi merely smirked, ignoring the sounds of water being penetrated from behind him as he scoffed at the attack, another wave of that strange energy… it might be a different color but that didn't mean it wasn't just like the last one. As he prepared to wave it away, his arm was sliced open and blood poured out with his screams.

Neo and Anko stopped in their tracks as Jaune let out another one at the fish-creature with the desire to bisect him, this time however, Amachi fell into the water as the attack missed and the area slowly turned a mix of red and blue. He was injured, in his transformation, Amachi was injured and it made no sense.

Landing, Jaune glared at the water as he used his Kenbunshoku Haki to try and locate him before Neo called out to him. "Don't overdo it, wait for him to show himself and then attack him" she called out, knowing about his semblance and how much it took out of him. She didn't know how much aura he had left but his limit was roughly around ten or so of those aura-enhanced yellow Rankyaku attacks, and he already shot two of them at the scientist. His aura wasn't full to the brim either and by Jaune's expression, he knew that as well.

'She's right… I need to be more careful, I'm surprised it actually hit the first time, he won't be so cocky anymore either, I need to try to play this one smart, I'm at a disadvantage here… huh?' he thought when he noticed Isaribi in her human form pull herself up towards Anko's platform.

"Jaune, he's below you!" she shouted as everyone look back at her confused before Jaune jumped from the rock and used Gepo to avoid falling into the sea when his own platform was shattered by an underwater attack. Making it to the other rock, Jaune sighed and turned back as Amachi himself rose up from the sea current and glared.

"You… bastard… you fucking bastard!" he shouted as he shot three water bullets at him before Jaune crossed his arms and used Tekkai and his Busoshoku Haki and endured it, he felt his vest get damaged from the pressure as Neo held him up as a shield, Anko glared before throwing a knife filled with her own haki at the beast before it bounced off of him, Isaribi looking at the man she thought she could trust in fear.

"I'll kill you; I'll kill all of you… Mitarashi, you and your little snakes are dead… you're **dead!** " he shouted as he smirked and his eyes somehow changed into a deeper crimson than before, his injuries being the only means of damage as his voice changed slightly. Jaune glared as he prepared some kind of strategy, he couldn't think of one, he had to have a weakness, he over-powered him once but he doubt her could do that for the entire fight.

"Weakness, Isaribi… does he, do you have any weaknesses he might have gotten!" Jaune shouted as Neo and Anko both kept their eyes on Amachi, Neo feeling her strength returning and created a small wall in front of them as a shield. The fish-woman however tried to think… there were some things she knew were hazardous…

"Electricity… I'm more sensitive to electricity in my Kaima form than when I am not using it" she said as Jaune nodded his head, alright… that was somewhat useful, the only problem was where the hell were they going to get something to make electricity? Before he could say anything, Kabuto jumped into the water, him heading who knows where while Amachi began another attack.

" **I won't… Let you win** " he shouted before Neo used her aura and enhanced her leg to deliver a kick, hitting him back in the water before changing her wall into a dome as Amachi growled and fired several blasts of water, Neo doing what she could to hold up the wall as Jaune placed a hand on her shoulder, channeling his semblance to amplify her aura.

"This is bad… anything else we can do?" Isaribi asked out as Anko frowned before pulling out some strange pipes and a lighter, "…Are those bombs?!" the fish-woman shouted as Amachi continued his assault and was no longer thinking. The mercenary saying nothing as she frowned at their situation, Amachi lost it; she knew his sanity was slipping before the formula but one attack made him completely flip out.

" **Mitarashi**!" his cries called out as Anko looked at Neo, who nodded and looked up, using her Haki, she could tell that her energy changed the dome and created an exit. Jumping out of the dome, she lit the fuse and waited until it was about to blow before throwing it at the scientist, the powder in the pipes exploding as Amachi halted his attack and was pushed away.

"…That was your idea?" Jaune asked while Neo frowned with a small twitch in her eye.

'That was her idea?' she thought annoyed as it only stopped him for about ten seconds before he started to spit out more water as Anko frowned. What, she wasn't that skilled when she was fighting a mutated fish with a dislocated shoulder, honestly she was surprised she could even light the thing without screaming in pain and agony.

"Neo, can you make an illusion?" Jaune asked as Neo just turned to him with an emotionless gaze; no… she was preoccupied keeping the barrier up so the crazy fish-man didn't kill them all! "Alright, fair point… can you keep up the barrier without me amplifying your aura?" he asked again as Neo nodded while Jaune jumped up and landed on the roof of the open dome. Bringing out his sword, he swung it down in another Rankyaku: Ierōāku before Amachi cried out in pain, his back being sliced open but nowhere near as bad as his arm was earlier… did that meant he increased his defensive abilities after he was hit the first time… this wasn't good, surrounded by water, Jaune looked to the shore before having to dodge a bullet of water aimed straight at him as Amachi recovered and focused solely on the swordsman.

"Well, at least you tried" Anko said as Jaune frowned before he got up from his fall and looked at the beach before nodding to himself. Jumping out of the dome again, Jaune made a mad dash using his Gepo and haki to avoid the attacks that were aimed at him, Amachi glaring at him and began to follow him towards the beach. "What the hell is he doing?" Anko asked out loud as he tried to make it to dry land. Dropping the barrier, Neo smirked as she knew he had an idea, if they could move him to dry land and away from the water…

Then they might have a chance to even the terms…

…

 **And cut, alright so I'll try to be writing larger chapters as I move on and have more characters to work with, more plot points to deal with and ECT. That being said, the final fight with Amachi should be up next but for now I'll leave it here, it was kind of hard to get the pacing done since Isaribi really doesn't have all that much of a reason to trust Jaune, in the last version it was just I'm Jaune, your friend is an asshole and used you, I beat him and now become my crew member… yeah, not all that good of a plot point now that I think about it.**

 **The thing is with Isaribi, the only reason she fully befriended Naruto was because she not only realized she would be a true monster if she forsaken herself but learned Naruto was outcast for being the Jinchuriki of Kurama, so with Jaune, I kind of need to try to set up a situation in a similar way and since I can't focus on the later part of Jaune being outcast by people I'm going with him trying to realize she was human despite being a Kaima.**

 **As for the whole Monster and Beast thing, I read something that in a fanfiction that was Naruto reborn as Alucard and called the shinobi and himself monsters while stating he first met Gaara as a beast but he became a monster, signifying that Gaara, who killed to prove his existence changed and became a good person with blood on his hands. I believe it's called The Fox of Hermes but I forgot who wrote it, either way if you like Hellsing and Naruto and enjoy those kind of stories, go ahead and read it, see if you like it or not.**

 **I added in some of Miles background and his missions and reasons for leaving the Cipher Pols as well as show why Jaune had that mantra in his mind when he killed Boshu, I hope it would work out for when Jaune eventually meets Crocodile and Robin since his hero/ Whitebeard, ruined Crocodile's dream, somehow and his teacher took part in ruining Robin's life.**

 **And finally, thoughts, comments, criticism and other are appreciated, have a good one and thanks for reading.**


	9. The Kaima's Fall

**alright** **sorry about the delay, here's the next chapter of Huntsman in the GrandLine and as always I do not own RWBY or One Piece, or any characters or references added to the story, they belonged to the respective owners and I owe nothing I hope you enjoy the chapter and the wrap up tothea Palma Island Arc.**

* * *

The sounds of battle echoed out as Jaune jumped away once again having to dodge another bullet of water with his Gepo, sent by the mad scientist-now turn beast. Pulling out his sword once more the Huntsman jump higher into the air and swung down the green wave of energy heading towards the scientist that just sidestepped it in the water.

It wasn't supposed to do damage to the scientist, just enough for the scientist to be distracted so the huntsman could reach solid ground. Seeing Amachi emerge, Jaune forced himself to make one last push towards the shore and was able to reach the sand under the water before having to evade another attack sent at him.

Honestly, he was starting to really hate how this plan of his turned out, the water attacks and Amachi able to remain in the sea and out of the blonde' s reach, choosing to hold the advantage that the ocean provided. Jaune wasn't sure if it was a faint means of thought the beast had or if it was a newly acquired instinct but whatever it was made things a lot harder to fight the fish.

Going into the water was suicide, similar to that one general he heard of in Professor Ooblecks clasd, and ridding his thoughts on the past class he somewhat slept through, Jaune prepared another attack, happy that at least he regained his tactical advantage of fighting on land... so that was a start.

Seeing Amachi prepare another attack, Jaune cursed and ducked behind a boulder before placing his unoccupied hand on the rough surface and channeled some of his Tekkai and aura into it. "Tekkai: Buso" he muttered as he armed the boulder as a shield as he felt the multiple shots of water collide with the large rock while at the same time slowly inflicting damage onto one of the sides. This wasn't good, he might need to resort to using his haki if this kept up for much longer, something he ordered to to save for offense rather that deffense.

'This is bad, as long as he's in the water I can't do that much to him. Those scales could take a basic Rankyaku and I doubt nothing other than my aura or halo enhanced blows even work on him... not only that but the only actual range moves I know are Rankyaku... I need to get a clean hit or ring a way to drag him out of there-' "Shit!" Jaune shouted as his Haki activated while Jaune jumped away from a nail-sized stream of water that pierced the boulder and nearly his head.

Shooting a stronger and more dilated stream of water at the blonde, Amachi growled as he noticed the attack miss. 'Hope this hits...' Jaune thought before counter-attacking. "Rankyaku: Ierõāku" he cried out before sending the yellow wave of energy at the scientst. Amachi however just avoided the attack, or rather side-stepping it with only a small graze on his scales before returning under water.

Landing back on the beach, Jaune remained cautioys, slowly showing signs of exhaustion while having his haki on overtime. He was using aura too fast and slowly growing more and more exgausted. He might have had the abilities but he lacked the natural endurance and stanima to pull off his higher moves that didnt use a bit of aura to keep them stable. Fighting Anachi was similar to fighting Miles... and if this ended like most of their spats then he needed to end it now.

Seeing Amachi return to the surfice, Jaune tried to calm down, hoping to come up with some form to drag the Kaima on land to finish this. Though before he could think of anything, Amachi let out a small yell of pain when he suddenly and silently exploded in the water.

Jaune just hawked at that while trying to understand what happened. It was only after he senses something that he got his answer from a pink,brown and white themed mime that held a smug smirk and leaned up agains5 something invisible, though she seemed a bit winded, almost as bad as him.

"Neo... what are you-never mind, what did you just do?" He asked as Neo just patted what she must have recently just made, going by what it could have been... "did you male a cannon?" Jaune asked out a bit confused, more like he was guessing an answer. Neo nodded her head, Isaribi helping Ano move to a safer place while she came back to help her captain. It took a while for her powers to return after the swim she had with Isaribi but she doubt the madman expected a cannon ball to the face, more so an invisible one enhanced with her aura.

That being said, just what had Jaune been doing, it took a fair bit of aura for her to amplify her Maimu Taiho but looking at the blond swordsman use that kind of attack was a bit unnerving. Yes it was true she had nearly perfect aura control but that still did nothing compared to that yellow energy attack. It had aura that practically tripped the amount of the aura she just used to attack...

And she would say it was probably around a good tenth of her reserves. She had her suspicions on how even with her control that her aura fell fast during their fight on Palma but if Jaune could use this much aura in an attack at his abysmal control over it then just how much aura did this guy have?

"Hey, you think you could tag in for a bit" Jaune asked as Neo cocked her head to the side as she saw Jaune on his last legs.

"How much aura did you use? Those attacks... they were packed to the near-brim. It's amazing you aren't dead yet, idiot" she scolded as Jaune laughed awkwardly at the tongue lashing.

"Yeah... I was trained how to better take and give hits, i was forced to just wing it when it came to my amount of aura I had. My limit was usually around ten of my stronger versions of my Rankyaku" he admitted as Neo just stared at him, not sure whether to be angry, irritated, amused or just outright roll her eyes. Everyone was supposed to use aura training to get a better control and use it to improve the amount needed to take hits, use attacks or enhance their bodies to the healing or the use of their semblance.

Yet Jaune basically said he was winging it to swing his sword and punch things better. Did he know that lack of control lead to over-exerting yourself, having to use more aura to fight and defend. It was lucky he had as much aura as he did because he would have been drained using even one of those fancy attacks of his.

'S he is now, he's a liability to have him fight this recklessly. I'll have to try and fix that..' she thought as Jaune felt a shiver go through him, seeing a predatory grin form on his first-mate's face did really help him in that either. Regardless, this wasn't done quite yet. Amachi swimming back up and glaring at them.

"...Neo, can I ask you something" Jaune voiced up as he kept his eyes on Amachi while Neo did the same, "can you make me something in particular with your fruit abilities, I have an idea." At first Neo was debating rolling her eyes and ignore the student-huntsman but seeing a glimpse of a gleam in his eyes, Neo listened to the idea he whisped out to her. By the time he finished, Neo looked at him with curiosity, not sure if that would even if what her reports on him for Cinder had any creditability to them then she would play along...

For now.

* * *

As Isaribi and Anko reached another part of the land both women seemed exhausted, the bounty hunter set against the rocks while resting there as the fish woman looked down at her feet in deep thought.

Thinking over the events of the day, Isaribi looked over Anko, who, despite the pain she still felt, was smiling as best she could. " thanks for the save there, that damn fish nearly got us" Anko said as Isaribi turned to the woman in a small glare.

"Why..." she asked as the other woman looked at her confused.

" Huh, what do you mean by that?" Anko asked as Isaribi finally snapped. The confusion, the hurt, the questions. Why were they helping her? What was their angle to this? How could she trust them. Just who were they anyways?!

"What's your goal here, just why are you trying to help me why aren't you seeing me as some sort of freak or anything? Ever since you and the others met me, all youve been doing is trying to help" she demanded as tears welled up in her eyes as she finally didn't know who to believe. Amachi was the only one she could.. she had to trust. But he betrayed her, used her.

What made Anko, Jaune or Neo any different?

Anko said nothing but eventually sighed before coming clear about everything. "You really want to know... fine I'll tell you. Truth be told I was just ordered to find that damn scientist and bring him back and to take down any accomplices, including you. But honestly you remind me of someone," she said as Isaribi looked at her with worry, wondering if she could trust her at all. Before she could act however, she found herself restrained as Kabuto coiled around her with something in his mouth while Anko continued.

"You remind me of myself, as a woman who was tricked into doing something if it meant being free. Someone who killed innocent people, who stole and passed away her values over wanting that freedom. Face it you fucked up and because of that you're wanted for a bounty that anyone can get, yeah sure you can always just run and hide underwater for the rest of your life but that doesn't really change the fact that you already did what you did. You're a criminal, no matter what you do now and no matter what you try to do to repent, even if you finally do realize that you've been tricked in the end that won't up the fact that you fucked up."

As Isaribi flinched at the harsh words as she looked away as Anko continued. "You have a choice , you can either just stay on the run, hide from everyone and always be alone as you keep living a life of isolation. Or you could open up and find some happiness with others."

"What do you mean?" Isaribi asked as Anko smiled softly.

"Well I'm trying to say is you aren't necessarily evil or anything so I'm just being a softy and letting you have a second chance, I don't need to let you go you know, you're basically just someone who reminds me of me... I know what it's like to be tricked and used so it's because of that I'm giving you a choice so what's it going to be?"

Seeing here still hesitant, Anko smirked and went for the kill. You know, that blonde kid really does have an eye on you, maybe you should join him" she suggested as Isaribi seemed lost.

"Jaune, I thought they were with you?" the Kaima asked as Anko smirked.

"Nope, I just met those two at a bar, but I hear they're looking for a good navigator and looking at you it seems that you're looking for some friends, seems like a good deal... I'd probably take it if I were you."

As Isaribi looked down, she began to reflect on everything that happened between both Amachi and Jaune, and everything else, she suddenly remembered Jaune's words, his invitation to join the crew. He considered himself a monster just like her, she doubt that he knew what she'd been through but looking at Anko and seeing what she was leading towards, tears slowly started to well up in her eyes.

She wasn't sure if she could trust him yet but that didn't mean she hated him. He saw her like a normal person, he offered her spot on his ship and on his crew and even protected her from those two that tried to hurt her earlier that day. Even now he was fighting Amachi in hopes of saving her with everyone else.

Looking down, she slowly smiled as tears started to fall from her eyes. " I... just want to be accepted, to be seen as something other than a fish or a freak, someone who is accepted by others and to live life with people I can trust. That's all I really want... actually I also want to see the world, I'm not sure how this happened or how I became a Kaima, but I just don't want to be alone... not anymore."

Killing the snake release her from its group, Isaribi heard Anko laughing. "Then what are we doing just sitting around, let's go help those guys, after all this is our battle to... right?" She asked as she tried to move only to a stop when the pain became too much. Seeing the sudden movement, Isaribi quickly went to see if she was alright. Anko just grit her teeth, she was worthless in this fight. Damn, plan B it was.

Noticing something in her snake's mouth she slowly grew a small smirk on her face. "Listen, take Kabuto and get to the others, I'll be fine here just don't take too long" she ordered as the fish woman nodded her head, looking at the snake to lead the way to the battlefield. As they left, Anko let loose a small chuckle, if only she could see that bastard's smug face after he was beaten.

* * *

As Jaune and Neo prepared for their counter attack, the blond swordsman jumped up into the air to swing of his blade, releasing several green blades of energy into the water. As the water was penetrated by the attack, Amachi stood unfazed but it was only after he felt something wrap around him that he realized he was being pulled towards the surface. Neo smirked as her attack caught the scientist and it seeing Jaune land next to her, both pulled an invisible rope before tossing the fish man into the Cliffside behind them.

'Huh, guess that work after all' Neo thought as she looked at where Amachi stood and smirked, ready to pay the fish back for nearly drowning her. Jaune meanwhile look up the fish man with narrowed eyes his stance, slowly tensing up as he refused to be caught off guard. With a cry of anger the scientist rushed at the too pirates, his eyes filled with rage and bloodlust hoping to rip the two of them apart, before he could however he was attacked through a spin kick as Neo smirked and delivered an aura enhanced blow.

Now that he was on land this was much easier than when they fought near the water, as Amachi stumbled he was hit once more by Ne,o further away from the ocean. Jaune however noticed someone coming and to his surprise it was..

"Isaribi" the swordsman called out as he notice the woman and the snake belonging to the bounty hunter arrive. "You guys alright, where's Anko?" He asked as the scale covered woman smiled a little.

"She's alright but right now we... we need to stop Amachi, he's no longer in control of his mind. Here, Kabuto found this in the lab, I'm not sure what it's supposed to do but hopefully it'll work just please... don't be reckless."

Smiling, Jaune smirked, nodding his head and taking the small device from what it looks like it seemed to be a controller of sorts maybe it was more like a battery, he didn't know but he did feel a small electric jolt run through it and seeing Isaribi easily be affected by the small machine the swordsman look at the battle to see his first mate and the scientist keep delivering blows. As Neo held the advantage Amachi still kept going, his scales and modified body able to better resist and endure her attacks.

Neo grunted as the scientist refused to go down, his actions and moves starting to become even more instinctual and sluggish as the fight went on. Before she could make another hit on the fish man she heard John's call and without looking flipped over or horizontal wave of green energy aimed at Amachi.

Upon hitting it's intended target, Amachi looked at the source of the green energy beforevrushing at the pirate in fury, having grown tired of the blond and his attacks. As Jaune however stated put, he prepared himself for the up-coming attack, dropping his sword and rushing at the older man in hopes of finishing it.

As Amachi took a swing with his scales now sharp as daggers, Jaune avoided it, having his hand coated in his haki and shot it forward.

"Shigan: Yari" the blonde muttered as his hand went through the man's torso before Jaune braced himself for the shock. Crushing the small device in his other hand, both men were coated in an electrical shock, their cries of pain and anguish forcing Neo to growl at her partner's tactics while Isaribi just looked on in horror.

Once the electricity died down, Jaune dropped the controller, using the last remaining bits of his aura to heal himself while Amachi shook and twitched, no longer moving before both he and Haune fell backwards, landing roughly on the sand as Neo and Isaribi ran to them as fast as they could.

As Amachi laid motionless and his body turning pale, Isaribi noticed that his scales started to molt, his size grew smaller and his dislike appearance slowly reverted back to a human's. However, Amachi no longer responded, his youthful appearance drained as he resembled a withered form of a mummified old man.

As Isaribi looked at her supposed friend with no emotion in her eyes Neo knelt down to check on Jaune, sensing slight movements in him and hearing a heartbeat. Looking at the older woman, Neo wanted to say something as she held Jaune up, careful not to further injure him before Isaribi finally broke the silence.

"Its.. over" she said silently as Neo nodded, allowing the woman morn over a man that saw her as nothing but a pawn and gave her false hope.

* * *

Several days later, Jaune moaned as he stood next to go's own boat as Neo crossed her arms, her mismatched eyes looking at Jaune in question as he sighed, now wearing a new buttoned up shirt with his vest over it and some bandages on his left arm, the one that took the blunt of the shock.

Alright, so maybe ending it with him essentially frying the man and himself with his haki encased hand wasn't the smartest, having spent the entire day after recovering, the day after that having his aura recover and the day after that being scolded by Neo and Isaribi while Anko enjoyed the entire show, guess he should be happy that Neo knew some basic first aid and that the doctor in the townndecided to help them.

Still, it was getting late and they still had a lot to do. Isaribi disappeared with Anko to, in the pink haired woman's words, "Get it set up" but whatever it meant, Jaune and Neo were told to wait by the ships for a surprise. 'Where are they, they were supposed to be here by now' Neo thought with her arms crossed while she tapped her foot impaitently.

Suddenly, several smoke bombs were thrown before them and covered the area in smoke, prompting Jaune and Neo to take a fighting stance with their weapons ready... until they heard a voice from the smoke.

"Alright, listen up, the single and incredibly sexy Anko Mitarashi jas arrived" she announced as Jaune just looked at her in confusion while Neo rolled her eyes with a small smile at the woman's attitude. Behind her was a familiar figure, Isaribi stood with a small, somewhat embarrassed smiled as she carried a backpack with her. While Jaune smiled at seeing his newly made friend, it was Neo who shook her head in amusement before pushing her boat in the water and getting on to sail off.

"Just so you know, we are possibly heading into the New World someday, and our current goal is the Grand Line." Jaune reminded as Isaribi nodded her head and smiled at him with more confidence as a third boat stood next to his.

"I know... and, I'll admit I'm a bit scared but... I want to see the workd, and if what miss Anko said is right... the to enter the New World, we'll have to go through Fishman Island. I... I want to see it, and find a place to belong. So, I'm ready to go, and it's like you said, you need a navigator, right?"

"Yeah... hopefully we can get there someday" Jaune said before looking at Anko, who smirked with Kabuto on her shoulder. "Thanks a lot for what you gave us, Anko... I hope we can meet sometime again" the huntsman said as Anko nodded her head, hoping the others became a lot stronger in the future. As the other two ships left Palma Island, Jaune looked back and smiled at their newest crew member. "Isaribi... welcome to the Remnant Pirates."

* * *

Shigan: Yari/ Finger Pistol: Spear

Rankyaku: Ireõāku/ Tempest Kick: Yellow Arc

Tekkai: Buso/ Iron Body: Armament

Miami: Taiho/ Mime Cannon

* * *

 **And here is the next chapter. Amachi is down, Isaribi has now fully joined the crew as a navigator and the plot continues. Please leave any comments, advice, thoughts or criticism and have a good night.**


	10. Ghost Island of Releo

**Alright, next chapter and as always, I dont own One Piece, RWBY or any references, abilities or characters from other sources as they belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

As the sounds of battle raged on an island in the night, the young woman was held down by two men while another man stood before them. Looking down at her with both irritation and annoyance, the man just spat on the ground in front of her, his black eyes and hair both sharp and shaggy, with a tone that demanded immediate respect.

"Why must you ants run, all you had to do was be nice and just tell us where are you hid the treasure, and yet here we are having two play this silly little game of hide-and-seek all because you weren't able to come clean with me. Tell me how many people of this island has to pay for such actions because of there greed? So I'll give you one last chance, tell me where is the treasure?"

Silently glaring at the man, the woman just spat at the ground before him, "we told you there is no treasure, we keep telling you and you never listen, why... why are you so focused on such a treasure that doesn't even exist, who are you, you damn bastard... who in the help are-" she cried out before she felt something being plunged into her back, her body shaking and her sensation of awareness slowly growing cold and dark.

With a sigh, the leader of the group of men just walked away and continued there's search for the Island's treasure, leaving her corpse with the rest of the villagers as they no longer hold any used to them. "Boss Releo, what's our next plan to get the treasure from these worthless villagers?"

As the larger man continued to walk to his personal ship, he merely smiled and replied with no emotion in his tone. "Isn't it obvious, go out for the hunt. Comb the island and leave no one left hiding." And with that, the several men saluted and began their search.

* * *

Meanwhile, the group of three were each taking care of their boredom by entertaining themselves. As Isaribi focused on her navigation as well as making a list of supplies she would need to enter the Grand Line, she was also currently the pseudo accountant, having got some money from Anko after Amachi was turned in. Adding that all together with the money that both the aura users had when they first met, it came to about a decent fifty-thousand Belli. Case and point... they were poor, they probably had enough money for a low grade sword while at the same time had to take into account for food, medical supplies and just basic standards of living at seas. Jaune knew this and that's why he was trying to think of an idea to find a solution to their financial issue.

Neo was busy looking up at the sky with an annoyed expression. They were broke... well they were always broke but it just occurred to her just how broke they were, not only that but while the easier way would have to just loot a town or steal the money from somewhere, she knew that Jaune and Isaribi would be up in arms about it. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't steal from other crews, infect if another pirate crew tried something than by all means she could easily just as well take their money as a spoils of war.

Jaune had reached a conclusion, similar to Neo's, the only issue was that other crews had more men than they did, not to mention a much stronger drive to kill. While he was sure they could hold their own, he was unsure about Isaribi and her eagerness to take more lives than she had. Even Jaune would admit that there were some cases where having to kill, intentionally or not was sadly a mandatory thing unless you were so strong it didn't matter. That didn't mean he liked it though. Shaking his head, that was the best bet, unless they just happen to stumble onto some treasure or something.

He'd have to think about that later, his next objective was getting to the next island. "Hey, Isaribi" he called out to her, snapping her out of her thoughts as she turned to her captain, "How much longer until we reach the next island?"

Thinking about it, and since they were still on point, "probably in a few minutes" she said as Neo and Jaune both nodded.

"Got it, thanks" he said as Neo spoke up.

"You said that this island has a small village on it, not to mention it's a fairly big island... then we should head to the village first... and then we can get down to basics" she stated, making the two of them confused.

"Basics for what?" Jaune asked as his first mate gave him a small smile, one that made him think of Nora or Yang right before a fight and immediately came to a conclusion and sighed. "You mean our sparing, don't you." Jaune said over asking, remembering how Neo explained his horrible control on his aura.

"I still say in my defense I was trained by a nut that tormented me over conditioning my control" Jaune stated with his arms crossed as Miles wasn't a trained huntsman, he was an assassin on the run by the people he served. Neo on the other hand smirked.

"Then good news, you're going to be tormented by a maiden that will help beat control into you" she stated as Jaune sweat-dropped, he thought he was done with this after he left Dusk. Why wasn't life easy? Isaribi just wondered how that would turn out before Jaune spoke up.

"That being said, remember who's butt I kicked back in Palma, if memory serves-"

"That was a fluke at best" Neo stated as Jaune smirked.

"Then I guess that kiss was a fluke as well?" the swordsman taunted as Neo silently glared at him, her eyes switching colors while a fighting spirit came to the front of the huntress, she was debating fighting the smug swordsman right now, the only reason being the fact that she could fall into the wster.

Isaribi however just stared at yhem, there was a kiss? Now she was interested in how the two met but seeing Neo glare at Jaune in a means of what she could consider borderline hate, she chose to stay out of it and remain ignorant of any... history the two could have. "Also, you should train with us as well, Isaribi" Jaune stated, getting a confused look from his navigator.

That was a good point, Isaribi was the least-trained when it came to fighting, her Kaima form having an advantage but her control and reluctance on it being a means of an impending disaster screaming out, "I'm open"

"I'm not a good fighter, I can't keep up with you guys, I dont have any aura or really and special skills like Neo's fruit ability" she said as Jaune smiled.

"You do have one ability" he reminded as Isaribi frowned at that as Jaune continued. "Look, I know you hate using the Kaima transformation but at the moment it's something that can give you some means of a fighting tactic. Trust me when I say that using something you know you have but not knowing or liking it can cause some serious doubt. I was the same when it came to my semblance and even now I only use it when I need to. I was the weakest in Beacon but I had to do what I could to not only support my team but to always improve so I could help them if they needed to. Besides, you aren't as weak as you think you are, just some basic fighting lessons can come a long way."

Neo said nothing as she knew all about his skills, or lack of when it came to his time in the Accademy but hearing the basics of training he went through, as well as the self-doubt being erased, Neo would admit that if he gained a better control over his aura then even the more skillful huntsman and huntresses could be considered weaker than him. Then again, if they ever did make it back, then that was for another story. She wanted, needed to get stronger. If she wanted to survive then she needed to not only master her Maimu-Maimu no No but get back into shape, if not more so with her hand to hand fighting.

Strong enough to where she could take down anyone that threatened her, strong enough to easily kill people like Cinder or Raven if she ever had to fight them again. Jaune was the same in a sense, safe to say he nearly went on a war payh when she informed him about what Cinder and those two followers of hers were planning.

It was something he had to admit that he was powerless in, he just hoped his friends and family were alright.

"Hey, look... it's the island" Jaune called out as both women turned to see the landmass that was in view. It was starting to get late so the sooner that they got there was for the best. As they reached the shore, Jaune smirked as he jumped off with gusto, happy to be back on solid groung while Neo and Isaribi followed suite.

"So, which way to the village" he asked as Neo and Isaribi shrugged, it was only until they heard a gunshot and saw a young woman running out of the forest and onto shore that they realized something was wrong. Before the three pirates could say anything however, the young woman was surrounded by four men in suits, suits that brought back memories frm both aura users.

"What's going on, who are they" Isaribi asked as Neo placed an illusion to hide herself, not wanting their location to be noticed, well... hers anyways. Jaune said nothing while his eyes narrowed in on the four other men.

'No doubt about it, they're..." Jaune thought as one of the men noticed them, leveling a gun at Jaune and Isaribi.

"Hold it, you two... come with us to Lord Releo and join her, now" one of them said as Jaune looked at Isaribi, who seemed unsure before he whispered something he knew that only the other two pirates could hear as the man shot the ground near Haines feet. "Hurry it up, the next one is going through your girlfriend's head" he shouted while both Jaune and Isaribi blushed, oh great... first his first mate now his navigator, Neo however shook her head in amusement.

"Alright, just calm down and look out for the snipper" he muttered as he and Isaribi joined the woman in the middle before one of the men smirked two more for the interogation.

"Still, you don't seem like islanders to me... actually, I think I've seen you before, watch them for one moment" one of the men said as both pirates felt a gun to their heads as the man pulled out a booklet with several pictures. Jaune didn't know what he was doing but eventually, the man smirked. "Heh, now I know where I saw you before, you're that damn Huntsman that messed with that newbie Rein Zero's schemes... well isn't this our lucky day"

"Huntsman, I thought you said you were the Silver Blade?" Isaribi asked as Jaune frowned. He was called the Silver Blade because that damn marine back in Palm spread the rumor of him taking that captains sword and killing him with it. Looking at the Panda Family goons holding up a picture of him, more so his current wanted poster, it just made things confusing.

'Guess I'm both the Huntsman and Silver Blade... that's going to be confusing, if he had two different epithets then how many will he have later on? "Look, we don't want any trouble. So but the gin away and let's just-" he started out before he was interrupted by a bullet bouncing off his head, Cleary growing irritated at the assult.

"Huh, what in the world" one of the men muttered as Jaune just calmed down, this wasn't Little Moss, before he was shot a foreseen second time, Jaune sighed when he saw the man's head now have a hole in it, curtessy of Neo while Isaribi froze. Did she have to kill him?

As the other three started to move back in fear, Jaune intercepted them, grabbing two of them by the head and knocking them out while Isaribi launched a bullter of water from her mouth, sending the last man flying into a tree. Once it was over, Jaune looked back at Neo with a small smile as she beamed.

"Did you really have to snipe them?" Jaune asked as Neo shrugged. Hey, in her defense that guy disrespected Jaune my shooting him, and in turn, disrespected her. Besides, better to take out the grunts, especially when they could cause problems in the future. Jaune was too soft at times.

Ignoring the corpse at her feet, Isaribi turned to see the woman looking at them with an amazed expression as Jaune just smiled a bit nervously. "Oh, er... hi, I'm Jaune... you're-"

"How on earth did you do that? Who are you?" she interrupted as Neo crossed her arms while Isaribi just coughed into her clenched fist nervously as Jaune continued.

"So yeah... like I said, the names Jaune Arc, this is my first mate Neo, and my navigator Isaribi. We're pirates" he said as The woman nodded her head before giving a worried glance at the men before speaking up.

"You... can fight these guys, and win... right" she asked as the three of them nodded. Earning a nod in return, the woman ran off into the island forest before turning back to face them. "Let me take you to the cheif... I'll let him explain our plight, if you want" she explained before rushing out of their sight.

As the three of them stared back at where the woman disappeared to, Isaribi spoke up first. "What do we do, follow her?" she asked as Jaune said nothing before Neo looked at her captain, expecting an answer.

"...l guess for now. If those Panda guys are here then this place must be in bad shape. Neo, secure the prisioners, Isaribi... help me move and hide the boats so no one can find them... then we look around for that woman or village chief she mentioned" he said as he went to the boats, leaving the other two to their tasks.

As Jaune was unsure on what exactly what was happening, he had a gut feeling it was bad. And unknown to their comrades, that woman seemed to unnerved each of them.

* * *

"You're telling me that you lost communication with the recon unit" a large man grumbled out and stroked his beard with narrowed eyes anger covering his figure and annoyance at his situation route to the front. "And you're also telling me that's you couldn't find anyone else?"

"That's correct sir, according to the other recon units they're searching the area to find out what happened we're still waiting back from them and at the moment some of us don't even think that there are any villagers left despite that the treasure should still be on the island."

Taking a deep breath the large man side and kept his composure before voice interrupted them. So the Recon failed, that's to be expected from low-level grunts. Thinking about it if I'm a sir I would like to personally join the hunt and see if I can't smoke out some of the rats left in hiding."

Looking at the source of the voice, the larger man turned to see a subordanate, a young man with brown hair, dawned in a mask as boss smiled. "I see, you can flush them out then, Olsin? Very well, bring anyone or anything back... take some men and don't disappoint me" Releo said as the masked man nodded, jumping off the ship as several men soon followed.

* * *

"Where did she go... she couldn't have gotten this far" Isaribi muttered has she pick up the rear and looked at a small stream of water that's headed back towards the shores.

"I'm not sure, it's getting dark and if we have to deal with with panda guys, not to mention the wild life in the area..." Jaune muttered with a hand on his swords handle while Neo remained quiet, her umbrella deployed out and leaning on her shoulder, keeping an eye on things.

"You know, I think we should set up camp for the night, we should find some cover, like a cave or something, I can make some torches. Is that okay with you too? Jaune asked as both Neo and Isaribi shrugged. Isaribi had to do work with Amachi in an underwater cavern while Neo worked with Roman in the tunnels of Mount Glenn to prepare for that invasion of Vale. Seeing a small cave that they could get into for the night, the three each grab a branch and created makeshift torches before heading on.

"So do you think anything lives in here? the oldest of them asked as Jaune frowned, still on edge and ready for a quick-draw if he needed to act, the last time he entered a cave like this was with Pyrrha and afterwards he still had unsettling dreams about it, as well as a disdain for Death Stalkers. Seeing him shiver made the others confused while Neo was curious when he mentioned something about the Grimm... must have been pretty hard for him since he silently voiced his complaints.

As they kept walking though, it didn't take them long until they arrived in a dark room, it was as big as Beacons caffiteria and there was nothing really similar to the rest of the cave, it's dimly lit flames that shed light on it was just enough for Isaribi to realize something. The walls weren't formed naturally, they were too smooth, chiseled to be flat, Neo's grunt alerted them to something else in the room.

Turning to shed some light on it, the three spotted a large block, something, foreign to the cave as they were. Matching the room's smooth texture, the stone was large and on it, were faint chiseled markings. Looking down to try and read it, Neo silently tried to come up with any kind of similarities or noticeable patterns, Isaribi looked at it, amazed to see something like this in an island like South Blue.

"Any luck, Neo" Jaune asked as the hundreds frowned, shaking her head before placing her ring back on in order to talk.

"I'm not even sure what this is. Looks like code, or random gibberish" she replied, narrowing her eyes before a voice spoje out.

"To you, this might appear to be random gibberish... but to us, this is our greatest treasure" an older man's voice spoke out before the three of them turned and fell into a fighting stance, only to see an old man and the woman from earlier glancing at them as the man continued. "That stone was entrusted to us by our ancestors long ago... one we have promised to protect with our livez, Grace, thank-you for bringing these three here."

"...who are you supposed to be? Neo asked in a tone of clear distrust as the two others followed suit, Grace and the old man sighed before the younger of the two islanders spoke up.

"We... we need you to help us... to help stop and defeat Alan Releo, hello protect our treasure..." she started off strong as she slowly grew more somber. The old man spoke up, however as he did, several others emerged from the darkness, people of different ages, different genders and clothing.

"Please, help us protect this island, from those known as the Panda Family" he begged as Jaune spoke up.

"Uh... sure, but who are you guys?" He asked with confusion in his words before Grace spike up.

"We are... were, those that protected this pineglyph before you, those that can no longer fight to keep it safe and who fought to the end to do so" she said, earning different reactions from the Remnant Pirates.

For Jaune and Isaribi, they knew the significance of the Poneglyphs, Amachi and Miles both having been informed and shared it with them while Neo seemed confused at the wording.

"What do you mean by "were" and "we already did" she demanded as Jaune and Neo smapped out of their thoughts, all while the people looked down until Grace looked at them, her eyes glowing a faint pale blue as her body soon began to glow as well, her body becoming more and more transparent... her tone and complexion, her feet leaving the ground, all before she said her chilling words of remorse.

"Because... we've failed" the ghost muttered, leaving the three pirates to stare in shock, denial and fear. They were surrounded, yet the spirits don't seem hostile to them. "I'll explain how this happened... but please, if we do then in return, we want you to help us..."

"To save us"

"To take them down"

"To finally... set us free"

* * *

 **And here's where I'm ending it, and bringing back in the Panda Family, please leave comments, advice, thoughts or criticism and have a good day.**


	11. Chapter 13

**Alright, so i said the next chapter was almost done, and that was a month ago so for that i apologize. Lets just say my schedule was flipped upside down by both misfortune and me being busy, case and point i lost about a good month of files (including chapters) when my computer litterally crashed on me, and I recently had family move in with me, about a week earlier than i was,told meaning all my spare time was cleaning and preping the house, regaining files, Work, and other things... over-all I wasn't able to really write anything, more so when a good amount of my stuff was deleted on me. My life is still hectic so updates will be random until things settle down... again. Again, sorry for the major delay on my end.**

 **That out of the way, like always i Do NOT own One Piece, RWBY, or any characters, references or other. All things belong to their original creators and owners. So like i said, i own nothing.**

* * *

The room was filled with tension as the night echoed out from a bit of rain coming down on the island, several specters surrounding the three Remnant Pirates as all of them looked on in an emotion of fear, dread, shock and disbelief. How on earth did this happen, just what was going on here on this island? Jaune rested his hand on his blade, shaking in a bit of fear since he never had to deal with ghosts, or rather he never thought he'd have to deal with ghosts. Neo meanwhile narrowed her eyes, pulling out a weapon of her umbrella as she felt just as horrified, wondering if this was just a dream, hoping this was some kind of nightmare while Isaribi was terrified, unconsciously shifting into her Kaima form before the woman and the old man spoke up again.

"Forgive us, for our sudden reveal" he said as the three would have scolded him about it being too late if they weren't horrified, "But… we need your help, my villagers and I, we are trapped, unable to move on until our unfinished business is done and our souls are at peace." Jaune narrowed his eyes before taking over for the other two, Isaribi still unnerved to talk and Neo not risking putting on a ring to weaken her for communication, not trusting the ghosts that surrounded them.

"What exactly is going on here, who… what are you guys?" he asked out, finding a bit of bravado but no way in hell letting his guard down, Neo doing the same while Isaribi slowly calmed down from the shock, to their surprise, the woman from earlier spoke up.

"We… need you to save this island, save it from Releo and his men" she cried out, her voice filled with remorse and anger buried within it as Jaune was confused, Isaribi summing up their questions next.

"Releo, whose he?" she asked while at the same time trying to remember where she heard that name before. The chief merely nodded his head and decided to explain.

"Alan Releo, he is a monster that poses as a man, who came to this island a few days ago in hopes of locating our island's secret treasure" he said as he pointed to the Poneglyph that stood behind the Remnant Pirates as they all looked up to the large block of stone with confusion before turning back. "Releo sought out this island after hearing about a rumor of a treasure that rested here, but sadly we held no desire to acknowledge him or his demands of revealing it's location, it is protected by a fruit ability that young Grace held in her life but was undone after her parting."

"It was our duty to our ancestors to protect this Poneglyph with our lives, a fate we had served dutifully but now…" Grace said before looking away, sadness on her face as Jaune slowly grew more comfortable around the ghosts before deciding to address them fully and without any form of fear.

"Let's start from the beginning, who is Releo, the Panda Family here being here for the Poneglyph, just what is happening here?" he asked as the chief nodded.

"As I stated, it happened a few days ago, we were living peacefully and content, the Poneglyph protected and our village filled with life, thriving as any other. However, Alan Releo, an executive of the Panda Family, came to this island with his men in hopes of taking it for both himself and the Panda Family. We resisted, we lied about our treasure in hopes to persuade him to abandon the search for the Poneglyph, but he was not so easily dissuaded with our claims. Instead, he attacked us, aiming for the women and children first and demanded answers, we tried to beg for mercy, to let them go but without hesitation…" he trailed off as the three of them noticed that several of the ghosts were infact children, Jaune and the others feeling anger bubbling in them.

"He went after the children?" Jaune muttered as Isaribi spoke up in another outburst, one that if she or Neo hadn't done, he would have.

"Why didn't you tell them then, I mean I know you said it was some duty but they were just kids!" she shouted before the elder stuck out his tongue, while Jaune and Isaribi narrowed their eyes further and shook in rage, Neo noticed something, pointing to the tongue and holding her hand out to prevent her crew from attacking. Looking back at the woman confused, Jaune looked at the tongue once more, or rather at a mark on it and was confused, a black lettering on it, something similar to the Poneglyphs, but at the same time, different.

"What the, there's a marking on your tongue" Jaune asked as the chief nodded his head as he looked down and sighed, it was clear he was regretful.

"That is a mark of silencing that our ancestors made to prevent us from ever speaking about it, so long as we lived. It is custom to brand anyone born on our island or village with such a mark to prevent the Poneglyph from being spoken, whether we wished to or not." He stated as Jaune frowned.

"So you had no choice, even if you wanted to" he said as several others nodded before the chief spoke up again, this time his voice lacking his sadness and regret to a more hostile tone.

"After that, Releo killed the children and ordered his men to attack and to interrogate us. I and the warriors of our village fought to our best abilities, but sadly…" he trailed off, they got the point before Jaune spoke up.

"So you want us to get rid of this Releo guy, that's it?" he asked as the chief nodded his head, Jaune smiled a bit at that as he let out a smile and shook his head amused. "How come we find ourselves in these situations?" he asked with a bit of humor. This would be the second round with the "Sea Mafia" and thinking about it, the past Jaune that went to Beacon would be shocked at the things he would consider normal.

Neo merely smiled, wanting to take down the heads of the Panda Family ever since Jaune and her fought them when they first arrived. Isaribi however voiced her own question.

"Does that mean we have to kill them all?" she asked, a bit unnerved as she became the center of attention. Between the confused expression from Neo, who wanted to say kill them all, the concerned expression of his realization that he probably was going to have to kill at least Releo and the ghosts looks of lament, the chief spoke up again to answer the pirate's concerns.

"Whether you seek to kill or seek to defeat, all I ask is that you drive them away" he said before Jaune spoke up.

"Israibi, I told you that I killed before, and I know you have to, but if you want me and Neo can handle this so you don't have to-"

"No" the other pirate stated, catching Jaune off guard as Isaribi smiled, her bandages having been ripped when she transformed, now returning to her human form but with a look of confidence and her scales that permanently scarred her figure showing brightly. "I, I don't want to kill them all but if this Releo guy is as bad as he is, then I can't sit and do nothing while you and Neo get your hands dirty. I'm a monster too, so let's tackle this together" she finished as Neo smirked. Jaune, however smiled as well, crossing his arms and nodding his head, seems like he was worried for nothing. Sure he didn't like the idea of killing but if he needed to, and considering how the last few fights ended, he's have to, then he'd do it to allow the ghosts to rest in peace.

"Alright then," Jaune said as he looked at Neo's giddy expression, nearly ecstatic to get back into the ring while Isaribi kept her confidence, he smiled and turned back to the chief and gave their overall reply. "We're in." Upon hearing that, the spirits of the villagers became much more cheerful, smiles forming on their faces before the Chief spoke up one last time.

"Then I think I should explain what we know about Releo and his two men that followed him" he said as the three pirates paid attention to the older man. "The first one is an assassin, known as Olsin, he is a skilled ninja, who tracked those that went into hiding. He is also an ability user" he said, catching the three off guard, guess it made sense since Boshu and that other guy… Zero were also devil fruit users, knowing their luck all of them were…

"We don't know what he did but his weapons seemed to change. They would extend, stretch and so many other things, some of us never saw it coming, please be careful of his abilities" one man said as another woman smiled sadly.

"From what we know, he's the strongest user of weapons, he was an assassin trained by the Panda Family's best, he won't be easy, but if you could see how to maneuver around them… you might have a chance" she said as Neo smiled, looking at her fellow crew and nodding, Jaune nodding in agreement.

"Alright, so Neo's getting this ninja then" he said as Neo mentally cheered. This was going to be fun. She used similar abilities, unlike him however, she could create her weapons to his apparent changing them, it would come down to a means of tactical advantages, superiority over weaponry and manipulation of their abilities as well as hand to hand combat and a bit of slight-of-hand misdirection. Overall it seemed Neo was going to fight her own Neo and she was going to break him when this was over.

Isaribi seemed to sweat at the sight of her excitement, Jaune sweat-dropping as Neo was getting way to pumped up for this, looking at her, she seemed like a young kid who was given some candy or a new toy, Jaune somewhat pitied the poor bastard of an assassin now…

"Next would be a man known as Trenno" Grace said as she got their attention as the three pirates looked at her as she continued. "trenno is a gunman, he is a sharp-shooter and is able to take several hits, he was the one who took most of us out when we tried to fight back when Releo dealt with several of the others."

"Does he have any fruit ability?" Isaribi asked as Grace calmly shook her head as a no, her smile not leaving as it appeared there was a good thing to this battle after all.

"Trennor however is the one who commands the men in the area other than Releo himself, he's usually at the ship and acts as the guard" she finished as Jaune thought it over, while it was beneficial for Isaribi to fight Releo or Olsin for her advantage over their own abilities and more importantly, their drawbacks, she was more suited for the job, taking ships and striking others out of nowhere… as much as he hated to admit it, she was the best candidate for the job.

Isaribi said nothing but seeing Jaune look at her, the two had a silent conversation as the older pirate smiled as that left Jaune with Releo. Now he was thinking just going out and teaming up on Releo but if they were all going after someone then the others could try to blind-side them. Thinking about it, he soon thought of an idea, a risky and foolish one but one nonetheless. Memories of his time back on Dusk Island returned and a smile appeared on his face…

…

 _"Tell me Jaune, do you know the best way to fight a group with more men than yourself" Miles asked as both he and Jaune sat at a table, a chess board laid out as they took a break with Jaune looking at the board in thought while Miles smiled at the game, he would admit that even when Jaune was a weakling physically he was at the very least a tactical genius…though he needed to work on that and be a bit more creative, he could notice a small and obvious detail and act on it, he was going to need to expand on that though and judging by the way the board was currently set, his queen and rook were the only ones in danger while at the same time, his queen was at risk if he used it and his own king and rook were taken into the other pieces as a means of protection._

 _"What do you mean, don't you just divide and conquer?" he asked as Miles nodded, moving a pawn onto the board to better protect the queen at risk of being under attack._

 _"There are many ways of going about it, that's just one way kid. You could go after them all and damage them physically, you could outsmart them and overtake them with tactical exploits and make them move into the palm of your hand, such as what I can see you're trying to do here" he said as Jaune frowned, moving a knight up to go after the rook while the older man continued. "You could play their emotions or faith but I have a feeling you aren't interested in that kind of way of fighting… so we're going to move onto the first two."_

 _"Is that why you wanted to play a game of chess?" Jaune asked as the older man laughed._

 _"Somewhat, really the reason was that why physically you're the runt of the litter, tactically you already have some potential, you're going to eventually learn Rokushiki, you agreed to that last week" he reminded as Jaune nodded, wanting to get stronger as Miles smiled at that. "Then for now, I want you to relax and to think. This game isn't going to just be some kind of over the top training that I'm going to put you through with the Rokushiki, this is a means of concentration, learning new tactics, brain-flexing and most importantly, I'm already kicking your ass physically, might as well make you my whipping boy mentally while I'm at it."_

 _"Gee, thanks" came Jaune's reply as he continued to look at the board, getting an amused smirk from the former marine assassin. "Listen Jaune, there's something you need to know, there are people that are strong and lead and there are people that are weak and follow the strong. Now there are people that are strong but cowardly, losing faith when the odds are against them while the weak are even more so. There are people that will risk their life in a losing fight while being the weakest in the world while they could easily give in at the last minute. Do you know why that is?"_

 _Jaune didn't say anything at that, being just as confused as ever, seeing this, Miles moved another peace one that placed his king in check and seeing as the king was protected by only several pawns, the rook under attack on his opponents side was ready to strike, the moment he took the attacking peace, it was mate and Jaune knew it._

 _"Ugh, guess you won… again" Jaune muttered as Miles smirked, it was a good game, the last four or so were, tactics were their forte of sorts so he just needed to be more open minded and less predictable. "Kid, let me say that experience is key, you could know everything but unless you can act on it and act on it without hesitation or doubt then you will always be open" Miles said as Jaune nodded before the older man left one more question hang in the air._

 _"So… another round before I make you my pack mule?" he asked as Jaune slowly started to come up with another strategy. One more couldn't hurt too badly._

…

Back in reality, Jaune snapped out of his memory as the chief began to explain his opponent and the executive. "Finally, we have Alan Releo himself" he said as several others flinched at the name, having the more… unsettling deaths while he was around and for good reasons too. "Releo is the strongest, even if her didn't fight much, when he did he was able to take out our strongest without much effort, even without his ability" he stated as Isaribi perked up in interest.

"What is it anyways, a Paramecia class?" Isaribi as the chief looked at her and saw her return to her more human appearance and sighed.

"The same as yours I would assume" he said, making them confused, Isaribi didn't have a fruit ability, even if she did the only thing she had really that considered as one was-

"Zoan" they muttered, as they all realized what he was getting at, the old man nodding his head.

"Yes… while we don't know what ability he has, he was once a pirate of the South Blue, a man who ate the Zoan type that caught the eye of the Panda Family, from what some of us figured out about him from our time lingering in this island, he was once worth around Thirty Two-Million Belli before he joined.

Well… that made things a bit more difficult and intimidating, a Zoan with near-no morals that is a bit higher than Jaune was. Oh well, he knew that bounties were sometimes misleading, he'd have to just figure out what kind of threat he had to deal with while testing the waters. As the night moved on, Grace smiled sadly.

"Our time… is nearly up, please be careful… and don't let us down" she called out as she and several of the other spirits slowly began to vanish, leaving the three pirates alone in the cave. Before they could say anything about that, the voice of the chief spoke deep within the ears of the three.

"When you are successful… return here… and we will… reward you with… the knowledge of old…" and with that, the chief vanished from sight with the rest of the spirits, the pirates left in the silence and darkness, all but the small light that they had with them that Neo silently picked up as they all looked at each other, the silence and tension wrapping around them as they decided to talk more in the morning, hoping that things would be simpler then.

…

"And that's the report, sir" one man muttered as Releo stood and looked slightly irritated at the news, he was debating going out about finding the Huntsman and Harlequin himself, but Olsin had left earlier, the night was in full effect, they were either hiding out or left. But he'd give his assassin a little more time, after all, he could be paitent when it came to a worthy game.

"Heh, from what I was told, I thought that this so called Huntsman was a little punk that decided to stick his nose in the adults' business, still have to admit that if this is right then things should liven up a little." Looking at the three posters, he let out a toothy grin with his eyes narrowing on Jaune's poster. A man who beat an executive, the weakest an most recent that only "earned" his title on a whim, from what he was last told, before setting out, the higher ups made a little wager on when he would get cocky or defeated, guess he had to thank the Huntsman for dealing with the fool for him.

Rein Zero, he didn't like weakness, even with his fruit's ability, even with his men, only to be taken down by a pathetic guy like this upstart blond swordsman? Nearly seemed laughable… Going more into his apparent "associate", the Harlequin, a woman that ambushed Gina and her little trafficking and made her look bad.

Not to mention that traitor… He had to go rogue and kill off that annoying scientist they had, taking that woman with him, their former number three and the lab rat. There were old news that they found replacements recently, he was going to make it his mission to take the two traitors next. Until then however, he'd give them tonight, to say their prayers and to make the most of their situation, his form changed in the night, his blood lust was amplified as the men around him all ran to avoid his "Eagerness to fight" as a loud roar echoed from his camp among the burned down buildings and rubble of the former village.

…

It didn't take long for the sun to rise, a few hours later, the cave entrance was exposed as Jaune, Neo and Isaribi popped out after having to camp in the hidden underground chamber with a set look of consideration on their faces, their plans made as Jaune crossed his arms, looking down and silently thinking with Neo inspecting her weapon, Isaribi glancing at her hand with a clenched fist, mentally preparing themselves for their fight. Eventually, the silence of the morning was broken by the captain. "You know the plan then?" he asked, knowing the answer but felt more comfortable in hearing it himself.

Neo silently nodded, a small grin forming on her face as she rested her weapon on her shoulder, a clear idea of her means to attract the assassin towards her, she needed to be loud and have him come to her. Meanwhile the older of the two women nodded herself, her skin slowly taking on her Kaima form as she approached a small river that lead to the waters the ship was in, her task was the hardest one, taking down both a man that was skilled with a gun and a good eye to use them with, but any and most of the men with the ship needing to be left in good condition and able to be taken for their own means. Mostly it was just agreed that they wanted elbow room and a bigger ship, they… or more to the point, Neo, was going to kill someone if it meant getting a bigger ship.

Better the Pandas to suffer than her and Jaune...

As Jaune sighed, he initiated his Kenbunshoku Haki, trying to sense where he could potentially locate anyone before he felt something approach him, and something fast, thinking fast, he pulled out his blade with narrowed eyes and prepared to face whoever was approaching him. Seconds later, both Neo and Isaribi noticed something as well, Neo falling in a stance as Isaribi narrowed her eyes and prepared to move if attacked.

The next thing they knew, Jaune weaved aside with Kami-E, a blade shooting forward with the means of trying to pierce him. Seeing the holder in the trees, Neo observed the blade with a bit of excitement and interest, seems that her opponent found her instead.

As the blade extended, the man spoke up, his identity hidden behind a mask that hugged his face that resembled a clay-like version of a bear, small holes for eyes and two more where his nose most likely was. "So, you aren't just another fool playing the hero" he said, mocking him as the three frowned. "I suppose I should thank you for being generous enough for coming out to face your inevitable fate and not trying to run."

"And you are?" Jaune asked as the man smiled behind his mask, brown cloak with what looked like a alligator face stitched to the front as his blade slowly returned to normal and a faint purple glow covered the steel until it returned to a knife shaped kunai. Neo smirked, ready to fight as the assassin decided to at least answer the question, secrets are crucial, but to the people about to die, a last courtesy is to give the name of the predator to its helpless prey.

"I am the man known as Olsin: the Ninja of Forging, former pirate worth Twenty-Seven Million Belli before being recruited by both Master Releo and the esteemed Panda Family as… a bargainer of sorts" he said as he addressed them with a bit of passion in his voice's deep tones. "I was originally out to hunt down the remaining vermin on this measly rock of sand and trees, but when word of your presence caught wind to us from that squad you attacked, I was sent to eliminate you three."

'…This is why I don't like sparing others that could be a threat' Neo muttered in her head with annoyance, honestly what was so wrong with killing some grunts and throwing them in the ocean to prevent others from finding out about them. Jaune however glanced at Neo, getting a nod, albeit an annoyed one before he decided to bring in a retort.

"As much as I would like to stay here and talk… I have some business with that boss of yours, hope you understand" he said as the assassin merely narrowed his eyes behind his mask and went for a strike, a small blade in hand as Jaune stayed still, Neo smirking before blocking the blow as Jaune jumped back and gave off a small laugh. "I'll leave you to my partner, Neo… have fun" he said as Neo's smirk grew.

As Jaune headed out, Isaribi ran to the ocean, jumping in the water below her and swimming to the ship, not knowing where it was but circling the island until she found it. As the two assassins were alone, Olsin merely sighed. "Why must you run and hide, at least you have the instinct to skip the tracking you down, very brave… but foolish"

Neo just rolled her eyes, not like she heard this before, typically when she heard this kind of shit from her opponents, she gained a little extra giddiness when she heard their bones break… so, how many bones would she break this time.

She was hoping at the very least four-

"Well then, I hope you said goodbye to your little boyfriend and that fish-woman" Olsin said as Neo and him both jumped away as Neo still had a look of excitement and cockiness. Scratch what she said...

She was breaking at least ten.

With that, Neo returned her aura enhanced umbrella back to her side while creating two small swords, Olsin doing something similar as the Panda Family's assassin pulled out another blade. As Neo eyed her opponent, she noticed the small kunai beginning to glow in a vivid purple, perhaps better of a plum-colored aura as the masked assassin brought his arm up and held the kunai as a sword to be swung. Instead of letting her confidence get the better of her and trying to take the blow or block it, she jumped away and landed on a nearby branch with grace as the kunai extended and reached her previous spot.

'So that's what they meant…' Neo thought, seeing the sword extend and slowly return to normal as Olsin followed up with a stab, the blade extending once more before she blocked it with her own invisible blades. However, Neo was pushed out from her spot in the tree, the blade propelling her to a nearby cliff before Neo spun in the air, avoiding the collision and having to dispel her weapons to do so as she smiled and ran at the assassin with her eyes changing and her hands gripping two newly conceived blades enhanced with her aura.

This was going to be fun...

* * *

 **And Cut, now I know this isn't much but the last few days... well the last month has been me trying to catch up and clean the house for my uncle to move in so I'm sorry this is all I really have, also I should have informed you all earlier but I wanted to get a new chapter out with the news so it was at least something other than an Author's Note... Also I decided to add in Omakes once again... so...**

 **Omake: Motion-Sickness Cure**

As Jaune was laying down on a small raft, Miles had a generally kind-hearted smile plastered on his face as Jaune had one of clear fear and pleading for him to reconsider, or he would if it wasn't for the gag in his mouth, a gag he would have removed if his arms weren't tied to the raft, or his legs, in fact he was tied down so his body spread out on the small raft as Miles had decided to conquer the knight's known greatest weakness...

Other than his swordsmanship... or his strength, or endurance... or honestly his fighting skills in general... no, he would be working on his motion-sickness. While Jaune had stated it was merely air-sickness, he wanted to make sure, and what better way to do that was there other than sailing...

Straight into a thunder storm

Yup, a honest to goodness thunder storm. strong winds that would tear you to shreds, fierce waves of water that would swallow you up within seconds... just another great night to set sail, and what was better was the sounds of thunder and... wait, did that bolt of lightning strike the sea? Perfect!

"Alright, Jaune. Are you ready for your first journey on the S.S Sol" Miles asked excitedly as Jaune tried to escape from his teacher's newest torture method before the former assassin continued, seemingly ignoring the younger man. "Great, let's head off, the S.S Shit out of Luck has left the sands... you have my support, and if it looks like you'll die, then I'll intervene" he finished, making Jaune freeze, what did he mean by that-

and with that, Mez D. Miles jumped off, sending his student, who was currently swearing and in a panic, off to the stormy sea, waving and smiling like it was a cruise ship or something. As Jaune was slowly heading to what could have been his doom, Miles gave a shake of his head, his arms now crossed as he hoped to see how well it would go for him... and as predicted, the raft broke within a minute or two, resulting in dear Jaune having to swim the rest of the way. Not his original intention but great survival training.

After the blond was carried back to land after ten minutes, he could only give a glare as Miles crossed his arms once more and with a smile, asked, "So, how was the swim?" he asked cockily as Jaune just kept glaring before muttering something and passing out, much to Mile's clear amusement, they would try again tomorrow when it was supposed to be a bit worse.


	12. Chapter 14

**Alright, heres the next half of what i was hoping to deliver last time so like always I own nothing, not RWBY, One Piece or any characters, references or other from any source. So i hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

As soon as they finished sizing each-other up, Neo sidestepped a swipe from a blade Olsin shot once more at her before rushing at him, he own blades in her hands as Olsin pulled out something from his sleeve, throwing several needles at her that glowed faintly, near unnoticed to the Huntress before she was forced to bat them away, the needles growing much longer as the elongated blade Olsin launched at her came back and returned to normal size, if not a bit longer than normal, causing the huntress to frown at the assassin. it figured the man has his own tricks still up his sleeve.

As Neo spun her sword in her right hand into a reverse-grip and dispelled it from existance, she jumped up in the air, her hand crossing over her chest while Olsin silently retaliated with several more needles shot at her and with a grunt of pain, the needles hit their mark before they began to glow once again, Neo channeled her aura into her arm and waved it, her fingers spread a bit more before Olsin let out a cry of anguish as Neo's arm exploded from the extended needles, now as long as a ruler that wound up making some small holes in her shirt's sleeve before she dropped her sword and pulled out the needles while she landed gracefully, despite being hit.

Olsin glared as he reached slowly towards his wounds, feeling something... something sharp embedded into him. Carefully pulling it out, he realized it was a shuriken. Had this woman concealed shurikens on her being? no, that wasn't it. He heard the rumors of her having two abilities but now he wondered what it was. It wasn't until he saw he bringing up what seemed to be another invisible weapon, a blade, a mace, anything, that he slowly understood what her ability was. The fact that she could create weapons... was unnerving but thrilling all the same.

Getting up and pulling out a knife, he extended it to a standard katana and rushed at her, refusing to let her use her weapons from a far range vantage while Neo followed suit with a grin, as they continued to battle and like last time, Olsin's knife was shattered before Neo moved in, delivering a kick with her blade and the shattered silver pieced of his on the ground before the Assassin grunted and was flown into a tree, only getting up with a pained groan of agony before narrowing his eyes

Neopolitan… was a dangerous woman to the Panda Family... and he would be damned if she got the best of him. "You're not going to get away with this... my abilities extended to more than my weapons" he warned as he felt his now near-useless arm go numb and pulling out a leather ball and threw it at her, making her jump away before it exploded on contact, Olsin was using explosives, bombs that would have done some pretty bad damage to her aura. Landing away from the explosion, Neo looked where Olsin was before another sack came at her direction, making her jump back again. the smoke was a deep purple, one that made her eyes irritable, one that made her feel uneasy.

'Poison' she thought before Olsin placed his hand into the smoke and soon the smoke took on a vivid glow into itself as Neo brought up her arm and held her breath as the gas expanded outward, surrounding them as Olsin grinned behind his mask. He doubt that the woman could survive a poisonous plum of deadly gas on this scale. As the gas returned to normal size and was quickly evaporated back into the air, leaving a vivid and fowl smell into the area, Olsin took great pride as he noticed the woman on the ground, on her knees, glaring at him with tears in her eyes... glistening in the sunlight, like a reflection...

Feeling his eyes widen a bit, Olsin shot out his blade once more, hoping to pierce her straight through the head. as the blade hit it's mark, Neo shattered into millions of shards while Olsin felt nervous, hearing a tree branch near him and avoiding, if just barely, a kick from Neo, looking quite upset.

Considering she was forced to deal with a giant wave of poisonous gas... upset was a bit of an understatement. Regardless, playtime was over, she wasn't going to get cocky... and moving up to strike him again, Olsin extended his hand and several blades shot out at her, causing Neo to jump back and roll to avoid the surprise attack before creating a knife and jumping in the air as she was ready to end it.

Olsin said nothing before he smiled, the ground under him glowing... no, it wasn't the ground but the shards from his knife she had destroyed and jumping out of the way, the blade pieces grew, Neo landing and being struck with the many shards before she was forced to defend herself, crossing her arms as a blade came out of the assassin's leg, extending and pushing through both her aura and her arm, dealing some damage and making the huntress give a silent cry of unheard pain.

As Olsin lost his balance from the blade, Neo growled and channeled her aura into her and shattered the blade, now free but the shards in her arm with her aura not healing her... or rather her aura being halted by her will, her experience of knowing what happened to Huntsmen and Huntresses that healed themselves with blades still in them from Accidents, as well as the fact that infections could spring up and the pain one went through to get the blade out when the flesh healed was a bit more painful than when the wounds were still fresh. Still, that didn't mean she was going to fight with the blade pieces in her, as she felt them slowly return to normal, she dug out the pieces with a tweezer and pulled them out, using her control of her aura to the best she could as Olsin got back up and smirked at the result.

"Seems to me you have a weakness after all… Well then, let's see how much more you can bleed for me?" he said as Neo glared and placed her hand in the air in front of her, creating a wall as the assassin shot several needles at the pink and brown haired woman with the iron needles doing nothing but cracking the aura-enhanced wall before Neo shook a bit, the wall being dispersed as the poison from earlier took effect, her aura would purge it from her body, hopefully soon-enough but she needed to finish this, quickly. Standing up straight, she created a blade and ran at the assassin, who rushed at her himself, pulling out a blade and aiming to run her through. As they were mere-feet from one another, Neo used her aura while Olsin used his ability and before they knew it, Olsin's blade pushed into Neo's side as Neo's blade was stabbing Olsin in the torso. Both refused to move or give in a an inch before Neo smirked.

As she closed her eyes to focus, Olsin grinned, thinking he had delivered the final blow. Grabbing her blade, he began to channel his fruit ability into her weapon before it slowly began to shrink down, making her frown and drop the blade, maintaining a determined and focused gaze on her face as Olsin jumped back and pulled out another knife, "I hope you're ready to die, Harlequin?!" he shouted as she merely stayed calm before he rushed her once more. Blade raised before lowering to her face, stopping halfway as Olsin froze.

And then, Olsin twitched as he felt something in his body expand before Neo grabbed him by the shirt and using her aura, threw him in the air before his screams of confusion was silenced with a silent explosion and a shower of whatever remained of the assassin. Neo sighing as she was thankful Olsin didn't fall on her, having used her Maimu-Maimu no Mi to add and create some nice little explosions on the end of her blade that pierced the assassin. Still, other than that poison and the lucky shots she was given, she had fun, she had him out classed and while being a little sore, Neo headed to where Jaune was, hoping she hadn't missed much of the action.

* * *

Jaune mumbled something under his breath, something of a bit of annoyance to himself as he stared face to face with several men in suits, suits and faces he could have sworn he met yesterday. Considering the fact that they all looked horrified to see him, it was welcoming to know that the first thing he was greeted with was the rapid assult of several bullets aimed at him. Honestly he was starting to get sick of it all, no matter where he was, he was harassed by a gun. On any island, in Remnant when Nora tried to help Ruby turn his blade, Crocea Mors, into a Sword-Gun/ Sword Grenade Launcher before threatening to tell Yang and Ren the little amount of blackmail he had on them, such as their secret supply of-

 _*Bang*_

With a sigh, Jaune just kicked at them, sending a Rankyaku out at the grunts he was starting to grow annoyed even more when one bullet aimed a little too close between... somewhere. But her would digress when he launched another Rankyaku out and using his Soru, appeared before another man and delivered a swift blow to his stomach. As he allowed the last man to fall with the grace of potatoes, Jaune sighed before sensing something aimed at him and dodging with Kami-E before looking at his new opponent, blue eyes steeled, ready to fight while another pair of bloodshot eyes glared at him, seeing the blond swordsman having evaded his thrown blade while Jaune narrowed his eyes and grabbed the sword, eying the man up before he finally spoke up.

"You're Releo" he said while already knowing the answer, getting a grin of sharp teeth as the larger man let out a growl before falling in a fighting stance, having a sword but seeming more of a brawler, like Yang or Miles, still... Jaune could smell the bloodlust oozing off the man.

"And you're that little Huntsman I heard so much about... I was expecting Olsin to bring your head to me, guess I'll have the pleasure of ripping you apart myself" he stated with a gleeful expression as Jaune merely held the sword in his right hand before a frown appeared on his face. they didn't need anything else to say. Releo had his prey, Jaune had his promise. And before Jaune or Releo knew it, they both locked blades, Releo holding a second blade while Jaune held the blade thrown at him as Jaune used his aura and slowly cracked the blade that Releo held before they both swung their blades down between them before a burst of wind pushed them back slightly as Jaune jumped back with Releo snorting before throwing the sword at the former Beacon Student and hoped to impale him, only for Jaune to side-step it with Kami-E, the blade going through a tree and Releo grinning as he reached into his coat pocket, pulling out what seemed to be Brass Knuckles, Jaune narrowing the eyes before Releo rushed at him.

"Gētā: Sutoraiku"

"Tekkai: Busō"

As Jaune channeled his Tekkai in the borrowed blade, he caught the punch that Releo threw at him, Releo smirking before going in for another punch, Jaune blocking that as well before he was forced to block a barrage of strikes before the younger man sidestepped and let go of the blade before extending his arm and catching Releo's hand before doing the same with the other punch, his aura taking most of the blows before he swung his hands, as well as Releo's fists to the side before jumping back and landing on a tree branch before Releo smiled at his opponent before heading to a tree next to him, and much to Jaune's unnerve, lifted the entire plant, form leaves to now-exposed roots in his hands before using it as a bat to try to deliver a lethal blow to the huntsman, before Jaune jumped away and reached for his own blade and swinging another Rankyaku at the Panda Executive, cutting the tree in half while Releo merely took the hit in stride, seemingly ignoring it before reaching for his blade, turning it around in his hand, the blade in the in the reverse hold as Releo smiled with his teeth slowly growing... his form slowly growing before Jaune felt the bloodlust seemingly increase as Releo entered his fruit's hybrid form.

The White Fang would have a field day with this, Releo was now twice as tall, hunched over and his body now resembling more like Amachi's, but instead of a typical viridian green and yellow underside, Releo had a sickly olive green design, his eyes now red behind what seemed to be a lens with his whites bloodshot-appearance now more noticeable, his large tail slowly wagging as his now gained snout let out a his as he slowly mumbled something under his breath.

"Gētā: Kiba" he snarled before tossing his blade to the ground as he rushed at Jaune, his mouth wide open as Jaune fell from the tree as the sound of a snapping of the tree and Releo's mouth echoed in the area before Jaune landed on his back. Before he could regain his ground, Releo was upon him with his fist held back and a loud growl being the only sound Jaune could hear before he channeled his aura into his body and channeled it into his Tekkai, preparing to endure the hit as Releo slammed down on him, a cough escaping as the man, while not piercing through either of his Tekkai or Aura, managed to make Jaune lay in a crater before jumping up and growling out in amusement.

Alright then... that blow... was stronger than Amachi… that attack was proof enough, gathering more aura into his body, Jaune got to his feet to jump out of the large hole before narrowing his eyes at Releo, still in his hybrid form. holding up his blade, Jaune silently hoped that Neo and Isaribi were doing a lot better with their tasks...

* * *

As Isaribi looked up from the waves, she noticed that the boat was fairly large, in well enough condition as her stealth skills were put to the test, silently hiding under the water as she waited for a chance to strike, preparing herself for her actions, her first actions that resembled her time with Amachi, now being utilized by her for her friend's sake, as well as the ghosts that were on the island that these people slaughtered. Sighing, she slowly calmed herself before floating back up to the surface and scanning the deck, four men guarding the ship, all armed while only two of them were paying attention to the surroundings, the other two not so much.

Seeing her opportunity, Isaribi struck.

Meanwhile, the two guys were standing around, bored out of their minds before one of them asked the other a question.

"Hey" the first man asked as the second looked at him confused.

"Yeah?" the second man asked back before the first man continued his question.

"Why is it we always get stuck on the ship or all things... we never got to leave unless we were ordered to hunt down those villagers" the first man stated as a fact as the second one just nodded, not knowing where this was going before he continued. "I mean, there they go going out there, on land, while we get stuck on the boat, like seriously, why are we always the ones stuck guarding the ship?"

"Because it's our jobs, it's what we get paid for-" came the second man's reply before the first man interrupted him.

"No, I mean... look at it this way, Frank... we are both here, stuck on a ship, that reeks of gator, and meanwhile, that prick Hugh just walked off the ship and got to enjoy a little bit of leg room off this ship. Do you know what he did, he brought a coconut here, a freaking coconut, Frank. I don't know about you but oh dear god that pisses me the fuck off."

"...Alright, no offense, Greg" the man named Frank said to his... um, fellow grunt while Isaribi looked at the two from her new spot as she peeked up from the deck and through the railings of the ship she was going to steal, "First... it's just a coconut, second... how does a coconut offend you... and finally, what is your beef with Hugh, Hugh is... well he's a damn bastard, sure... but there are worse men out there."

"No... this is personal, that bastard has a thing against me... like some kind of vendetta... I mean here he is, bringing island shit from wherever we go to brag it to us. that guy was always like that... when he killed more than me, when he got a bigger pay raise for me... when he slept with my sister, when he stole my apples back at the village-"

"Woah, alright hold on... that is a bit to much information!" Frank shouted, cutting off Greg's rant as he stared at the other man with a look of disturbed mind. "You're telling me... that Hugh... and Jill... both of them-"

"Without protection, man. Do you know what it's like to walk in on your sister, having her being defiled by that bastard in the middle of the night, honestly if I had my gun and a good shot and a single chance, I would've shot that bastard right then, right there... so, how's your sister doing?" Greg asked as Isaribi gained a bit of a blush on her face, her head turning to the man who would speak before switching it back to the other one to talk.

"...You know, with the rest of the family I guess, but oh well, it's nice to hear from her now and again... look, let's get back to work, Greg... I don't want to get in trouble for slacking off... again" Frank said as Greg looked away as Isaribi made her move.

"But my point still stands, Frank... here Hugh is, out there going on a hunt, with the only possible thing that could go right in the world is that guy dying out there looking for the Huntsman or the Harlequin... heck, from what I heard that Kaima woman is somewhere out there to... I don't know about you but from what I was told about those kind of people... between Mister Releo, Lady Kimota, heck that traitor, Cobra... I don't know but those guys scared me... between their animal instincts, I think I rather just stay right here... and from what I heard, that Huntsman and Harlequin are just as monstrous. They're both level 2, with talk about moving them to a level 3... can you imagine that, Frank?" he asked before turning to face his fellow grunt, only to see that he was alone, much to his confusion. "um... Frank?" Greg asked out before a webbed hand reached up and dragged him under the water, his screams being short lived before his unconscious body floated up as Isaribi swam him and Frank back to shore, not wanting to kill anyone else until she had to.

Leaving them on the shore, Isaribi swam back, this time with much more confidence as she waited at the edge of the water before sighing to concentrate, taking a deep breath before releasing a bullet of concentrated water at one of the men, the last man on deck turning around to see the blast before he was his as well, Isaribi leaping out of the water as the two men slowly got up and saw their attacker in all her scaly glory.

"What the, it's the Kaima-" one man shouted out before he was interrupted by Isaribi rushing at him with a fist thrown back before punching him, straight threw the door as the other man screamed in fear, shooting the woman with all the bravado her had to fake as the bullets bounced off of her scales, the man soon running out of bullets before he chose to tactically retreat, jumping off the ship and abandoning his fellow, now unconscious grunt to his fate, not wanting to wind up as "Fish Food" to some monster woman.

As Isaribi watched the terrified man jump overboard, she just sighed before looking at the door, hearing someone move towards the opening she made as Isaribi fell into a fighting pose, her eyes narrowing as a man stopped right before his fallen man, annoyingly kicking him back on deck with a sigh. "Yeesh, you guys... what the hell are you all doing... up here?" he asked as he noticed Isaribi looking at him while the man just frowned. "Never mind, I guess I know that you aren't in your league here... now then, Kaima: Isaribi… a new bounty added by the Panda Family, do to your... aquantince with the Huntsman and Harlequin. I wonder why you have come here to our ship?" he asked in a smooth tone, one of a simple con man of sorts but with a narrowed gaze that made Isaribi silently shudder.

"I want you to leave, take your men, your captain and never come back" she stated as the silence was mixed with bother awkwardness as well as tension before the man started to chuckle, finding her request as a means of a joke, and before she could get another word out, the man fully laughed out loud, much to her embarrassment.

"You want us to leave... just by asking?! You don't expect us to go that easily, do you?" he mockingly asked with a good laugh as Isaribi frowned, well she was hoping he would but she chose not to say anything. The man merely smirked, bowing a bit as his eyes were hidden under his hat. "For that laugh, I guess I should inform you of who you're facing... I am none other than the Great Trenno, Marksman of the Greater, Sir Releo… and Executive of the Great Panda Family... I hope you understand this, it means unlike my worthless lackeys… I'm a pretty big deal to a young woman like you..." he said as he gave a bit of a flirtatious wink to her, her response was just to give him a deadpanned glance.

Not because he wasn't her type, not because he was a slime ball… but because, she wasn't that young... she was probably twice his age, only looking like this due to her modifications... she was a proud thirty-one year old woman... she aged gracefully, apparently most fishman had a great longevity, it was one of the only positive quirks of the process, minus the enhanced attributes and breathing underwater.

Shaking her head to get rid of her thoughts, she merely prepared herself for battle, her scales thickening as Trenno pulled out two guns and prepared to fight her. "Still, I don't want to fight you... I prefer if you just remain a good little fish and let me take care of you" he stated as Isaribi growled before releasing a bullet of water at him, only for him to side-step it and shoot her, the bullet bouncing off of her with her scales defending her before he shot two more bullets, then realizing the disadvantage.

"Tch, guess those scales are an issue, oh well... I have something to deal with that" he said before he emptied his normal bullets and placed in several yellow ones in their places, ones that made the navigator narrow her eyes out of instinct as she felt a surge of electricity come from them, making her eyes widen as she jumped away from another shot, the bullet landing in the water and creating an electrical shock in the ocean, much to her horror. looking at the man, he smirked. "Tazzing Bullets, one of the more useful tools that monkey managed to make for us, but I digress, this is where we part ways, Kaima."

And without a word, Isaribi prepared to fight, running around to gain distance and cover, to keep moving to avoid the lethal ammunition, the sounds of gunfire nearly heard around the island as the ocean was struck, Trenno smirking as Isaribi spat out a jet of water at the gunner, to her shock though, he sidestepped the water jet and took aim, shooting another bullet that nicked the Kaima woman and delivered a small dose of electricity, painfully, yet numbingly, causing her body to shake before she shook it off, it nicked her, and a direct shot would most likely kill her.

As Trenno moved to shoot again, Isaribi lunged at the man, opting to choose a close-range physical fight over a long distance trade of water and bullets. Grabbing the man, Isaribi held him down in the hallway, refusing to let him be able to shoot her, instead, he merely held a smile before Isaribi felt something... off.

Without a second thought, Trenno pointed his gun at the floor, the wood wet with the sea water that covered both the planks and the woman that held him down, Isaribi, noticing his plan, froze in shock before Trenno shot at the floor, a cry of pain echoing through both of them as Isaribi and Trenno were both electrocuted, the damage being far worse on the Remnant's Pirate's navigator over the Panda Family's gunner, and as she let out her second scream of pain, her body morphed back into her human form, her body shaking before Trenno, still in pain, forced himself up and kicked her out and back onto the deck, shaking as he stood up, Isaribi slowly getting up before another bullet was fired, this one, not a tranquilizer as it penetrated her shoulder, forcing her back to the ground as she glared at the man in pained hatred, memories ofher time on Umi island, the many times and many faces that sneered at her, hated her.

As she laid on the ship unmoving, her body was kicked off the boat by Trenno and into the sea, the sharks could finish her for all he cared. As Isaribi moaned, her body became numb, her vision blury before closing her eyes, exhausted. was this how it was going to end?

Was this how it was going to end?

She... she didn't want it to end... swimming with the remaining strength she had, Isaribi floated under the boat... trying to stay hidden before, in a risky move, she climbed up on the ship's rope, tired but determined, to win round two.

Slowly making her way up to the deck, she remained hidden, formulating a plan on how to defeat him, he had his guns, she needed to find a way to get rid of them... waiting on the side, using the ropes as support, she gathered her strength, readying herself for the next and final encounter. Peering back up from her spot, she noticed him looking at the water, waiting for her corpse to surface, only a second later was she forced to duck and avoid another gunshot aimed at her, not a tranquilizer but a normal one. Seeing him move towards the middle, she looked down at the sea before noticing the anchor and weakly, devising a plan before pausing, if she dove in, he would hear her, she was pinned... unless...

looking at the side of the boat, she sighed and knew Neo was probably going to be upset if it was too destroyed... but in a time like this, she leaped to a nearby window and broke into the ship, Trenno, hearing the sound of broken glass, heading towards the ship's edge, only to be struck with Isaribi leaping at him. Grabbing him with her remaining strength, she threw him overboard before jumping down after him, grabbing him and squeezing him in the water, her Kaima form active once more, her will refusing to lose without taking him with, they were right... she was a monster-

'I'm sorry' she apologized in her mind before biting down, earning a scream of agony as he let go of his guns, her body forcing itself to move lower under the waves as she aimed to drown the man, apologizing to herself over as the man's struggles for escape continued to threaten to become a reality, she kept apologizing, her adrenaline forcing her to move as she dragged him to the black darkness of the sea-bed, away from the guns, on her turf, and waited to see who would lose consciousness first.

A few minutes later, Isaribi emerged, her body in agony, forcing her way up as she collapsed on the beach, her shoulder in excrutiation pain from the salt water entering her wound, her body in shock from the electricity, all while Trelleo's body floated up to the surface, unmoving, panic etched on his face, lifeless eyes of a drowned man that floated in the tides, the last thing Isaribi muttered before losing consciousness herself was a muttered apology whether to Jaune and Neo for her condition, or her sins for killing another man, this time intentionally, the last thing she noticed was a familiar face.

"G-Grace?"

* * *

Back with Jaune, he let out a growl, having been dealing with Releo for who knows how long, time didn't mean anything as he focused on the executive his body standing strong as Releo was having the time of his life. He was just as bad as Amachi, except unlike the scientist, he knew he was on a rampage, still having his mind intact but not giving a second thought about it.

"What's wrong, Huntsman?" he asked in a mocking tone as Jaune ignored him, his aura and haki going through his sword as the human gator lunged at him once again, this time, Jaune channeled his haki into his blade, slicing through the man before jumping out of the way, Releo's hand coming down to crush him as the blond knight felt his aura becoming more diminished. What was going on, he never had this much trouble before... how was he already this expended on aura already, it was like his battle with Amachi… still, he had some aura over nothing, his hand on his blade as he jumped into the air, releasing a wave of green energy, one Releo just ignored before Jaune switched it up, releasing his Rankyaku: Ierōāku at him, Releo avoiding it before taking in a deep breath and releasing a soundwave from his mouth.

"Gētā: Ekō" he grumbled out before the soundwave echoed out at the swordsman, who avoided it and moved with his Gepo to gain a different spot, his body flipping back up before growling himself, closing his eyes to calmly gather his aura to perform his semblance, his body softly glowing before he held his blade out, and swinging his blade, creating another Rankyaku, the green wave slicing through a tree before Releo took the hit, only leaving a small cut before retaliating with another rushing with his jaws bared, making Jaune jump away and roll to avoid the older man trying to kill him. Shaking his head, Jaune moved in to deliver a blow he knew Releo couldn't dodge.

"Rankyaku: Ierōāku" he shouted before swinging his blade, a yellow Rankyaku slicing into the man as he roared with inhuman pain and anger before getting up.

"Gētā: Sutoraiku" he roared before moving to deliver a punch that would take off the blond's head, only for him to endure it with his blade before crashing into a tree. Getting back up, he frowned as Releo held the upper hand, cloaking his blade in his haki. Standing his ground, Jaune readied himself while Releo moved to bit him again, this time however, Jaune channeled both his Busoshoku Haki and Kenbunshoku Haki in him, only having one chance. Seeing the strike coming, Jaune avoided the impact with Kami-E and held his blade out, Releo screaming as he ran straight into Jaune's blade before without hesitation, Jaune spun around, throwing Releo and his sword, still imbedded in the executive's shoulder and throwing him off of a nearby cliff. As Releo screamed as he fell, Jaune fell to his knees as he felt his exhaustion finally coming up on him.

After a minute, Releo's shouts of anger echoed up to the clifftop, making Jaune moan and get back up. Narrowing his eyes, he jumped back and waited for Releo to climb up and seeing him make his way up, sword still in his shoulder before without a second of hesitation, Releo ripped the blade out of his shoulder and let out a roar, throwing the sword off the edge and roared. Jaune for his part, just swore under his breath and fell into a fighting pose.

As Releo slowly leaned forward, Jaune prepared for the impact as Releo rushed passed him, Jaune dodging the fist before moving in on him once again, "Shigan: Yari" he shouted as Jaune extended a haki-coated hand into Releo and piercing in his other arm, Releo screaming out before the swordsman twisted his arm and yanked it out, Releo falling to his knees as Jaune stumbled back. the air was tense and the area was silent before Releo got up and panted before noticing something, and smiling.

"Heh, I'll admit it brat, you're pretty good, maybe you would have been an executive's man in a year or two, but you're at your limit" he said as Jaune said nothing, doing his best to not let his last bit of aura slip away, this made no sense, whenever he trained with Miles he could deal with his training with Miles for a few hours without tiring, why was he losing his aura so fast?

"I... can still fight" Jaune stuttered as he narrowed his eyes, falling into another fighting stance, "And this time... I'm going to end it..." he panted out as Releo smirked.

"Then let's see it, I'll give you the honor of being killed by Alan Releo: The Wild Gator and an Executive of the Panda Family. I'll make you pain for taking my arms, i'll watch you squirm... my thanks for entertaining me" he said before Jaune said nothing. Soon enough, Releo moved in on him, Jaune narrowly avoiding the jaws, however, he soon noticed something coming at him, a large tail moving in, forcing him to cross his arms and for the tail to slam into him. "Gētātēru" he shouted as he launched Jaune onto the ground before keeping his distance, breathing in and releasing another soundwave. "Gētā: Ekō"

"Gepo" Jaune muttered as he was flung deeper into the forested area as the soundwave increased his momentum, Jaune and the soundwave destroying more of the forest before crashing into the ground. Slowly getting up, Jaune groaned out and got up from the disrupted ground, "Uh... this sucks... give me the Death Stalker over this any day." Shaking his head, he got up before he heard a sound behind him, delivering a Rankyaku to the source, he was horrified to see Neo there, avoiding the green energy before she crossed her arms unamused, making Jaune blush at the mistake. "Um... sorry, Neo" he said as Neo rolled her eyes at the huntsman.

As she noticed his condition, she spoke out in curiosity, "Why do you look like shit?" she said bluntly, already knowing the answer, only for said answer to appear before them and focus on his current opponent. 'What the hell is that?!' Neo thought as Jaune jumped back and delivered a Rankyaku, one that sliced into Releo before he lunged at Jaune, who was still airbound.

"Gētā: Kiba" he shouted before moving to snap Jaune in half, the swordsman using his strength to hold back the set of teeth with a struggle, his hands gripped with the teeth piercing them, blood leaking from them as the pirate growled out and crushed the areas of the snout that Releo had the blond's hands in.

"Shigan: Tsume" he shouted out as the other man's maw snapped shut and roared in agony before he was kicked away by an aura enhanced strike from Neo, what sent him flying into the forest.

"Honestly... I can see you are having issues... what happened to your aura?" she asked as Jaune frowned and looked away in shame, having silently confirmed the older pirate's suspicions. "Tch, your control is horrible, how can you waste your aura like that and call yourself a Huntsman?" Neo asked as Jaune got up.

"Hey, not my fault, and I don't waste it... it's just... I don't know what's happening. I could maintain it much easier than this, so I don't know why I run out so fast, whenever I trained with Miles I could go for hours-"

"And there you go," Neo said as she made a point. "Jaune, when you were with Miles, did you ever think he was willingly going to kill you, when you could use your techniques?" she asked as Jaune frowned, shaking his head before shaking his head, leading Neo to explain. "Listen, Huntsmen and Huntresses use aura to fight Grimm, but aura is alive, it uses our emotions to flow, and when we are afraid or shaken then that's when we use more, when you were on that island, you didn't need to fear, just fight and you knew there wasn't any real threat when you trained, now you aren't safe... you might not seem afraid but you are acknowledging the world around you, you're letting too much aura slip into your techniques and using too much for basic things like defense, that Haki stuff you know is slowly draining it much more, you're using too much and don't even know it!" she shouted before hitting him from her scolding, leaving Jaune shocked.

Was... was that it, was he slowly leaking his aura out? That was...

"You lack control, you can't keep up or else you're dead weight" she said as Jaune looked at her, she seemed fine, she still had her aura... she was trained and had control while Jaune lacked it, thinking about it, Miles just said it would come to him the more he used it, he never properly learned how to control his aura beyond the basics, he never trained it more than just his semblance at Dusk Island and was still hesitant with Pyrrha when she offered Aura Control training... and it was kicking him in the ass at the moment.

But Neo was a Huntress, if she knew those control exercises… then maybe-

"...Can you... train me?" Jaune muttered as Neo looked to him in confusion before she noticed that Jaune was now on his hands and knees... was he bowing to her? "You're right... I have no control... so... if you can teach me... then-"

"Already planned on it, you're no good to me dead" she interrupted him, much to his shock, wait what?! "But in exchange... I want you to do me a favor-"

"Huntsman... Harlequin..." Releo growled as Jaune and Neo just turned to see him get up before Jaune got up and looked at Neo, an idea popping in his head.

"Neo, give me your sea-stone ring, now!" he shouted before she tossed it to him, Jaune snatching it before moving in. Sea-stone was a very durable substance so it should manage the impact, as Jaune shot out his finger, the ring now on it, he channelled his Shigan in the least protective part of Releo's body, inflicting a small punchure in his chest. Pulling out his finger, Jaune looked up to see Releo hiss in discomfort before snapping down on Jaune, only to miss and stumble, pain and dizziness filled his form as he slowly felt subdued, weakened, only to see Jaune smirking at him and the ring on his finger was gone, it was in him, and with horror and realization now appearing on his alowly reverting human form, Jaune smiled as Releo fell to the ground, his human form unable to keep him going and the chest wound aimed straight for his heart. As Releo let out his final sounds of life, Jaune just sighed.

"Uhh... so... where is Isaribi?" He asked as Neo glared at him, giving him a kick in the stomach before going over to Releo's corpse to retrieve her ring.

"You have no need to worry" a voice called to them, turning to see the ghostly elder floating above them with a small smile pn his face, "she is back at the cave, resting... I will escort you back... and fulfill my end of the promise" he said as he vanished, leaving Neo, to finally reclaim her ring and grabbing Jaune to take him back to their camp.

* * *

Gētā: Sutoraiku/ Gator: Strike

Tekkai: Buso/ Iron Body: Armament

Gētā: Kiba/ Gator: Fang

Rankyaku: Ierōāku/ Tempest Kick: Yellow Arc

Gētā: Ekō/ Gator: Echo

Shigan: Yari/ Finger Pistol: Spear

Gētātēru/ Gator Tail

Shigan: Tsume/ Finger Pistol: Claw

* * *

 **Alright so that wraps that up, i kind of winged it on the fights, not going to lie but i hope they were entertaining nonetheless. So with that being said i hope you all have a good Thanks Giving or a great day in general. Comments, critism, thoughts and advice are welcomed. Have a good night**


	13. Chapter 15

Well this is not an update but a note.

* * *

The last few days have been bad for me and my health is getting bad, my chest is hurting so while not a chapter i want to apologize for the lack of updates and thank all of you for the support, im not by any means the best writer but i am happy to write. But if my health does get worse and sonething happens because of that, i like to thank all of you for the support.

Sorry for the Grimm update but i hope you all have a great new years


	14. Chapter 16

Right... so this is kind of embarrassing. I thought i posted this much earlier but i never did, so going back at the last major updates... i kind of feel like an ass. So to explain why i haven't updated or anything in the last good several months was a mix of me feeling like shit from my health and my general writer's block. A few months ago i typed a note to explain that my health is not as bad as i thought but still really sucks to live with constantly, plus all the other life-related stuff...

Back to the writer's block, lately when i looked at the stories i seem to just space out at times and can't think of how to write the next chapter, so i decided to take another break to try and get some inspiration, get rid of the writer's block and try to improve my writing skills in my spare time. Regarding the stories i do plan on continuing them as well as even going back and rewriting some of the chapters to flesh out the stories more, make longer chapters and try to be less repetative using certain words.

Stories i will be focusing on are...

Sennin no Arcades: Rewriten

Huntsman in the Grand Line

Drunken Recollections of a Hero

And Menma's Ultimate Encore.

...

Meanwhile...

The Legend of Link: Jikkan no Kisshi and A New Hero's Arc will be will be taking more of a back seat at the moment, due to things like me not planning where and how to take something from point A to point B. I'm thinking of making A New Hero's Arc a challenge for people to take if they're interested. Just PM me if you are.

I'll try to upload something soon. To everyone who waited for any updates, I'm sorry for the lack of communication on my end, as well as the fact i should have doubled checked to see if my last post explaining this was up. I screwed up bad. Also i want to thank everyone for the support for the stories and hope you still continue to enjoy them, i know I'm not the best writer.


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